NIOBE

Cover illustration for With a Tangled Skein by Piers Anthony

Jun 01, 2026

A woman in an elegant black dress with diagonal pinstripes sits measuring a "thread of life" drawn to a narrow Z-shape extending from her lap to above her head. Behind her, reflected in golden light, is a spider web with the center focus leading to her overly large amber eyes. Her copper-blonde hair falls past her shoulders, framing her face in unruly waves, a contrast to the delicate gradations of her makeup. A white lace choker wraps low on her neck. The deep spread of her neckline is held together by support that resembles a white spider with its legs bridging the wide gap. Gold lace structures and lifts her bust-line. Her legs are folded in front of her covered by her long dress, and in her lap rests a pair of slender spindles and a long pair of shears with finger holes that resemble the eyes on a skull. Beneath her is a macrame rug with many contrasting patterns. — NIOBE (1985), Oil on Panel - 29” x 19”

Since 1975, I have worked almost exclusively in acrylics, but I still love to paint in oils. Not long before doing this cover, I moved to a new studio that was larger and better organized than my old one. The new studio provided me with a space for an easel and taboret just for oils. I could have each medium in its own area to save time switching my whole setup from one to the other

LEFT: Preliminary concept for NIOBE featuring a woman standing in front of a spider's web measuring a "thread of life" pinched at one end near her hip and the other next to her head. Her dress features a swatch bearing the emblem of a spider. CENTER: Preliminary sketch for NIOBE featuring a woman seated as she measures a “thread of life” drawn between pinched fingers, one end in her lap and the other stretched to over her head. A pair of scissors rests against her leg. RIGHT: Color study for NIOBE executed in rough detail. The figure is faceless but she’s in a black dress and is delicately measuring a thread pink with a golden spider web behind her. — Preliminary concept, figure sketch, and color study for NIOBE

After a ten-year hiatus, I did three oil paintings. NIOBE is the second one. She is attended by her chief attributes, a spindle and scissors with the symbolic Death's head in the pattern, and is seen measuring a glowing "Thread of Life."

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