O' Of Beauty Is She, My Sweet Lady

St. Michael and the dragon

While this took me a whole lot of time to finish, I am very pleased with the end result, both compositionally and in regard to the colour scheme.

The idea for the ornate, white armour in particular came from an illustration of St. Michael in the book of hours of Henry IV of France, which looks like this:

Also, fun-fact: my hometown celebrates an annual little festival, which as its centre piece features a moving mechanical figure of St. Michael slaying the devil, the colour-scheme of which I also referenced for this painting.

* * *

Close-ups:

And you should, as the core of it all, let go of expectations for your Deities. Let go of what you’ve consumed from the books, let go of authorities, let go of explanations, let go of the neatness - and embrace chaos. Embrace the wilderness which is in itself God, call a name and wait for an answer. What voice sounds like home?

Gods will come multifaceted, iridescent, impalpable. Gods will break rules and expand where a mind burdened by expectations can’t follow. A chimera of a myriad faces might not want to always show only one side. Gods will change. Gods will surprise.

If the nature is untamed, so are its Deities. The wilderness has many names for each of them, a prism to choose a side of. Feeling over explaining, embracing over conforming, preparing over expecting.

The All-Pervading by George Frederic Watts (c. 1887-90)

Detail of Lemminkäinen At The Fiery Lake, Sketch by Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1867)

aphrodite & venus + art

and i forgive you.

An experiment I did with watercolor.

Illustration by Ernst Stohr, from 'Ver Sacrum' Magazine, 1899

I just feel like it's very important to talk about the bad shit, too.

That you might face difficulties on your path, that there will be hours-days-weeks-months of silence - or can be, at the very least - and that religion won't come as a panacea for every issue or as a magical pill. You might still feel lost, and hurt, and scared, and lonely; and you might still hold faith. Not that you should, it's up to you. But the point is, "having faith" is not a synonym to "never having anything bad happen, ever" while encountering issues of any degree is not necessarily a proof of an uncaring God.

Dionysus is in the erratic dancing in your room

Apollo is in the strum of your instrument

Artemis is in the swift glance of the deer

Hestia is in the warm hugs of family

Athena is in the peering eyes of the owl

Zeus is in the admiration of the pattering rain

Hera is in the stern guidance of a mother

Hephaestus is in craftsmanship of your tool

Aphrodite is in the overwhelming feeling of affection

Ares is in the instinct to protect those in need

Poseidon is in the enthralling crash of the watery waves

Hermes is in the ever-moving soul of a traveler

Demeter is in the wind sifting through the wheat

{ Original Poem for the Theoi }