Lemurian Goddess

I love using and designing stencils...and I love painting portraits, so I couldn't wait to try a portrait with my very own Lemurian Garden stencils, which were released at StencilGirl® this summer. I started with a stenciled face by Andrea Matus deMeng, done in purple acylic, that I had stated a few month ago, then put to the side.

My idea was to paint an image of a goddess in an ancient garden, sort of a tropical Garden of Eden idea. Naturally I used my Lemurian Leaf stencil first. I added color and flowers and swirls and just kept going and going and going.

At one point it had the feel of a Matisse painting, but I felt the painting looked too dark. So, I lightened the skin color, and the flowers and leaves and it got very pastel. I decided to add a crown, but wanted to use either a spiral or leaf for the crown.

 

To my surprise, once I added the leafy spiral crown, the painting took on a feel of a turn of a late 19th century woman. The crown looked more like a hat, and she reminded me of a woman who might have been in a Renoir painting like Bal du moulin de la Galette.

Here's some detail shots of the finished goddess, and also a video (with music) of my process.