Van Dieman's Inks 2026 - Cerberus

Cerberus

Few creatures in mythology are feared as much as Cerberus.

The great hound of the Underworld stood eternal at the gates of Hades, allowing every soul to enter, but none to leave. With three watchful heads, each alert to a different threat, Cerberus was less a savage beast than an unyielding sentinel. His purpose was not cruelty, but certainty. Once the boundary between life and death had been crossed, there was no turning back.

Cerberus captures that quiet inevitability.

Its base is an ethereal blend of weathered mauve, ash-grey, subtle tans and muted lavender. The colour shifts gently across the page, creating soft, smoky transitions that seem to drift like mist through forgotten stone corridors. Darker pools gather with subtle blue-grey shadows, lending the ink an ancient, worn character.

Beneath this restrained surface lies its true nature.

A complex multichromatic shimmer moves constantly as the page catches the light. At one angle it burns with warm copper-red, evoking embers glowing deep beneath the earth. Turn the page and the same particles become luminous antique gold before finally transforming into spectral green, like ghostly fire dancing across the cavern walls of the Underworld.

No single colour defines Cerberus. It changes with every movement, never settling, always watching.

Belinda's artwork portrays the guardian in all three aspects at once. One head snarls in warning, another roars in challenge, while the central gaze remains fixed, calm and unwavering. Together they embody not rage, but vigilance. An immortal creature whose duty has never faltered.

Cerberus is not an ink of violence.

It is an ink of threshold.

Of silent guardianship.
Of ancient stone.
Of the moment you realise there is no path back.