New Art: Oya

I realise I haven't posted in while. But that's because things have been busy and I haven't had much time to  create art. I had this sketch hangin around my desk for weeks before I decded to sit down and make myself finish it. 

This is OYA... 

"Oya is the powerful Yorùbá Orisha of the winds and tempests. She is considered either the sister of the Orisha of storms Shango, or one of His three wives, with Oshun and Oba. She can manifest as winds ranging from the gentlest breeze to the raging hurricane or cyclone. She goes forth with Her husband during His thunderstorms, destroying buildings, ripping up trees, and blowing things down. Oya is known as a fierce warrior and strong protectress of women, who call on Her to settle disputes in their favor."

What do you think of the painting? Let me know in the comments below. 

Final Piece: Black Goddess Yemaya

I just realised that I never posted the final piece. After all the work that went into it (read about that here) I'm happy with the way it came out. What do you think of it?

If you're interested, you can get prints of it here

The Value of Perseverence: The Story of The Yemaya Painting

So, while working on the Yemaya piece, I went through so many trial and error disasters (lol) As an artist you always have a vision of what you want the final piece to look and it often takes you a while to get there, if you ever get there at all. This is the story of my epic battle with the Yemaya painting. 

The Beginning

Since this piece is part of a series, I wanted it to be similar to the Oshun painting but the deities are different so she needed her own distinctive attributes as well. 

Yemaya is the Yoruba Mother Goddess of the Ocean, and she's often depicted with a fish tail. I wanted to include that and also have her hair to frame her face and have a character of its own. I love the work of Alphonse Mucha and how he made hair look almost like a living organism. Yemaya's signature colour is blue so I knew that had to feature prominently in the piece. 

Painting Woes 

Everytime I paint, I go through a crisis where I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. There's lots of frustration at this point and sometimes some tears. I was especially insecure about doing this piece becaue I've never done anything closely resembling a mermaid/ sea deity before. I wanted it to be ethereal and include reflections of the water on her face and body. To make a long story short, I put a lot of pressure on myself. This is what came out of this period that I call 'PaintingWoes.'

Getting the Hang Of It 

After thinking of quitting painting for good, I decided to keep trying. I realised that I need to relax and just enjoy the processof making mistakes and learning from them. I had to remember the true spirit of what I was doing: depicting a goddess who has a motherly and nurturing essence and is well loved around the world. 

Eventually the painting started to look kind of like I wanted it to. 

I completed the piece today and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll post it tomorrow but I wrote this blog post to say that I'm glad I didn't give up on it. I hope that it gives you some inspiration to keep on trucking if you're struggling with something. Keep going, learn from your mistakes and press forward. 

xoxo 

Patricia 

Work in Progress Yemaya Face Detail

Sketch Of The Day: Yemaya,The Yoruba Sea Goddess

After a brief hiatus, I started working on the Black Goddess series again. I'm currently working on doing a painting of Yemaya. She's the Yoruba Orisha of the salt waters while Oshun rules the fresh rivers and lakes.

You can see the first painting in the series (Oshun) here.

Finished Art This Week: Mobster Molly

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Just a little gangster pin up illustration that I did for a competition. Meet Mobster Molly. She making off with the loot from the last heist. The rest of the gang won't be happy...

Sketch of The Day: 31/03/2015: Making Faces

Just a peek at some of the things I do for practice. I draw ovals on  piece of paper and create a face out of them. I try to make each face have a different look and personality. I may use them in the future as illustration ideas for stories.

What kind of personality do you think each face has? Let me know in the comments section below.