Goewin

This is Goewin, from Welsh legend, which I did as a commission. She was the virgin footholder of Math, the lord of Gwynedd in the northern part of Wales. Her story is told in the Mabinogi, a collection of tales taken down in medieval times. Though the stories are presented as legend rather than myth (i.e. more like fairy tales than religious stories), many of the characters are clearly Deities, though it can be difficult to make out given that it was written down in Christian times. Some of the characters are said to be related to Dôn, the Welsh mother Goddess Who is probably the equivalent of Danu of the Irish. Math is Dôn's brother, and so in all likelihood a disguised God himself.

But back to Goewin. Math could only rule on the condition that, except in times of war, his feet rested in the lap of a virgin. That sounds like a strange condition, but it's probably related to the idea of Goewin as a sovereignty Goddess, a theme that was quite common in Celtic myth, especially among the Irish. A sovereignty Goddess represents the Earth and Her powers of fertility and life; in Celtic thought, the kingship was a partnership between the mortal King and the land he stewarded, protected, and ruled over. If he was not fit to be King, the land, in the personification of the Goddess of sovereignty, had the right to reject him. This is why sovereignty Goddesses (like Queen Medb of Irish legend) tend to have many husbands; not because they are insatiably promiscuous (though their sexuality is very much a part of their power), but because the Goddess is entitled to choose the man She likes best at the time, and discard those who are no longer worthy. That Math had to keep his feet in the lap of a virgin may mean that She represented that land and earth; the virgin condition may have come about because the sexuality of virgins was considered to be a concentrated form of that power.

In the story, however, Math's nephew conceives a lust for Goewin, and aided by his brother starts a war as pretext for sending Math away; while he is gone he rapes Goewin. When Math returns, he punishes the brothers by transforming them into wild beasts, and makes Goewin his queen to save her from shame. So the sovereignty Goddess ends up a sovereign Herself.

I put Her in white, for innocence, with a purple mantle for royalty. She holds Her hands in front of Her a little protectively, but She is still shown in an attitude of power.

Eris

New art of Eris, the Greek Goddess of strife and discord, done for a commission. Her hair is after a description in Virgil (where She goes by the Latin equivalent of Her name, Discordia), where She is said to have "viperine hair ... caught up with a headband soaked in blood." She is contemplating mischief.

Some Recent Commissions

This commission thing seems to be working out, so I've decided to keep taking them for now. I spent most of the holiday season painting Muses as I got a commission for all Nine. Here are a few of my favorites from that set.

First, Ourania, the Muse of astronomy, with Stargazer lilies in Her hair:

Melpomene, Muse of tragedy:

And of course my personal favorite Muse (well, duh), Thalia, Muse of comedy:

For another commission I did an Asherah I quite like, with the Tree of Life embroidered on Her tunic:

And for a different commission this Ereshkigal, which may be my favorite one so far:

I seem to be rather obsessed with that panneaux format (though not all commissions have been those proportions). And oddly enough, doing a bunch of pieces in an old familiar style that still has plenty yet to explore has given me lots of ideas for other styles. I wouldn't have thought that's how that works. But it's been inspirational, and is starting (I think) to build some momentum.

I'm Taking Commissions

Wow, okay, it's been more than a year since I've posted here. I've been going through some interesting artistic rethinking/reshuffling/reimaginings I guess, though I'm not in any place to talk about it yet; it's still at the chrysalis stage and needs some time in the dark still. Though if you're interested in peeking at what I've been up to, the link to my deviantArt page is to the left.

And apologies for breaking the silence with shilling, but I need to raise a bit of fast cash right now. Which means I am going to do something I pretty much never do: I’m going to take some commissions. Generally I don’t work well within the kind of structure making art on commission requires, as drawing Deities is a genuinely religious experience for me and I must be inspired, but I think with some limitations I’ll be able to make it work. So here’s how it’s going to go:

—The art will be in the style of my World Goddess Oracle cards, i.e. pen and ink on paper with full color watercolor. They won’t be actual cards, like with the name underneath, but they’ll be in that artistic style with the heavy outlines and the flat color (scroll down this page for some handy examples).

—Any (female) Goddess of your choosing. No male Gods or fictional characters for now, just Goddesses, from any culture you prefer. I may take some limited direction on your preferences (like if you want a dark-haired Bridget) but a lot of that isn’t really up to me and the art is going to do what it wants to do. I also reserve the right to decline a commission if I’m just not feeling it for whatever reason.

—I tend to naturally work pretty small, so the finished pieces will probably end up around fifteen square inches, for example three by five inches or four by four, though the exact proportions will of course depend on the dictates of the composition.

—I will send you the original physical art, not a digital copy; I may however use the image myself in the future in my portfolio or to sell on prints or t-shirts, &c. You may not take the image and profit from it yourself.

—Prices are $75.00 US (via paypal) plus shipping and handling, which in the US will probably run about another $5.00. I’m happy to ship internationally but I’ll need to look up postage and get back to you about it. Payment in full is required before I start work.

I have no idea how long I’ll be taking these commissions, so if you want something you should probably act pretty quickly! Get in touch with me at thalia@thaliatook.com if you’re interested.