A Painting Within a Painting

I recently had an idea for a painting, I thought it might be interesting to paint people looking at a painting, so I am currently working out this idea.  I'm planning to do a few of these, and they will have a lot of religious symbols and imagery.  This first one is a sort of test painting to see if this idea works.  I am using a painting from last semester as the main painting that the people are reacting to.  Here's what it looks like so far.

Oil on canvas
Music - Devil in a Woodpile, Hillstomp, Elba, David Bazan and Dan Auerbach

I'm planning on adding sculptural elements and possibly some collage to these paintings.  I'm also thinking about projecting a film onto one of the paintings...who knows, we'll see how it goes.

...and semester two begins.

While visiting Rome during winter break I became very inspired by all of the religious artwork there.  I'm intrigued by all the repeating themes, the storytelling, and the epic quality they possess, but most of all I'm interested in the propaganda of it all.  I'll be using a lot of religious themes and imagery in my artwork throughout this semester but I will be changing the main focus a bit.  I plan on blending a few different religion's gods, idols, icons and stories into one painting while maybe placing them in a modern setting.  I'll be researching all of the major world religions, their artwork and their history for this project.  I'm just getting started but I'm excited to see where this takes me.