The "Supreme Beings" Series

Welcome to “Behind the Canvas,” my new weekly blog sharing stories from my adventures in painting and art.

In 2016 I decided to challenge myself to create realistic depictions of mythological figures — ancient beings described as half-human, half-animal. I did extensive research on the goddess Nekhbet and explored realist portraits of 19th century heiresses.

Nekhbet was the guardian goddess of Upper Egypt, and in paintings and carvings from predynastic Egypt, she was depicted as a vulture protecting the pharaoh with her outstretched wings.

I discovered photos of a real-life Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), known as the pharaoh's chicken. I imagined its wrinkled face and piercing eyes but with a young voluptuous body, dressed in something soft and frilly, like a sky blue silhouette gown from the Romantic era (1800’s). This maternity-inspired dress would be a perfect fit, I thought, for Nekhbet, who is the goddess of childbirth.

For the first layers of my paintings (left to right), I use large brushes to capture basic shapes and shadows, then hone in on details with smaller and smaller brushes, before watering down the paint and adding translucent glazes.

Nekhbet, from my “Supreme Beings” series of Egyptian gods in Romantic and Renaissance fashion, was featured at the Limner Gallery in Hudson, NY. Other paintings from the series were displayed in London, where they were honored at an international exhibition.

I was living in Texas when I created the “Supreme Beings” series and didn’t travel to Hudson for the big opening. In an unbelievable twist to the tale, seven years later, I had moved from Texas to NY. My husband and I took a weekend trip to Hudson, and suddenly there I was, wandering past the Limner Gallery, standing precisely where Nekhbet once had stood.

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