The workshop I’m teaching as part of Effy Wild’s collaborative exercise Radiant:Faces is all about reclaiming the Goddess as symbol and I’ve got a free place to give away! But before I go into detail about how you can enter to win, I’d love to share some more about the workshop with you.
What’s Goddess Got to Do With It?
The goddess stories are abundant and widespread – and the goddess figure is the most potent and persistent symbol in the archaeological records of our ancient world.
Although we will never truly know what lay behind the symbols the archaeologists continue to recover, we can find in the artefacts and in the stories passed down through indigenous cultures plenty of evidence that the peoples to whom these symbols were relevant were very like we are today.
The ancients faced the same cycles of life that we do – of loving relationships, the joy of new birth and grief at the ending of life. They witnessed the rising of the sun each day and the changing shape of the moon in the sky.
Throughout it all, they were subject to the same archetypal forces that shape our contemporary stories – the hopes, the fears and the uncertainties.
Our very human nature to seek some kind of meaning, to question and explain these Great Mysteries of Life is still played out in the symbolic language, even today. You only need to look at any of the world’s religions to find evidence of this, not to mention in your own dreams each night…
The Great Goddess was the ancient’s representative of the greatest Mystery of all – Life itself!
Relevance of the Goddess Myth to Us
Look to the natural world and you will see the patterns of life reflected back over and over again. Synchronicities appear almost everywhere you look – the veins in a leaf reveal the branching pattern of the whole leafless tree; the seed on a dandelion head mimics the whole in miniature; the branches on a clump of broccoli model the whole plant …
In the same way, we can break down and attribute distinct aspects of the Great Goddess to particular deities and then recognize in them our own psychological patterns – the light and the dark. We can identify with the Great Goddess, in miniature!
Investigate these archetypes in more detail and we create a much deeper understanding of our own Self. We come to recognize our true nature – that of the feminine divine, in all her fierce, loving, creative glory.
You Are Goddess, Not Goddess
But we are none of us goddesses, for we are human! We are living, breathing, flesh and bone miracles of Life…
And that is why it is vitally important that we reclaim the goddess symbol as our own – whether She is the Great Goddess Herself, or one of the hundreds of deities to whom we associate with most directly.
That even as we meet the human challenges of our everyday uncertainties, we can call upon the deeply primal, creative energy of the feminine divine – tide-turning, volcano-erupting, hurricane-generating, crop-growing – and set it in motion, however miniature.
What’s Included in the Workshop?
During my Inner Goddess workshop for Radiant:Faces, you will discover how you can easily integrate the goddess into your art, with some basic techniques which allow you to develop your own style.
There’s a 27 page PDF Guide, with full instructions;
- What’s Goddess Got to Do With It?
- What the Goddess Myth Represents
- Relevance of the Goddess Myth to Us
- You are goddess, not Goddess
- Integrating the Goddess Into Your Art
- Casting Light and Shadows
- Getting Started with Portraits
- Steal Like an Artist
- We Learn by Copying
- Time to Get Studying
- The Stylistic Portrait
- Bringing your Inner Goddess to Life
- Creating your Inner Goddess for Real
The PDF Guide is also accompanied by almost one hundred minutes of demonstration video!
Don’t forget, the Inner Goddess workshop is only one of nine lessons on mixed-media faces from artists including Effy Wild, Tamara Laporte, Jane Davenport, Christy Tomlinson, Kylie Fowler, Jamie Doughterty, Joanne Sharpe and Dina Wakely. Each of us will demonstrate a different technique and create a unique character in an individual style. In addition, Effy will also record her response to each of the other nine lessons. All for only $89!
Class begins on 1st October, and the content will be available for a whole year. You can sign up here.
Win a Free Place
You can win a free place on this course by entering the giveaway below. Just follow the instructions, and make sure you’ve entered before the closing date of 12pm (UK) on Wednesday 24th September – Good Luck!
***Earn maximum points  by downloading the Colour the Goddess (PDF 19.9 MB) printable and share your photo.***
I had a go at colouring in the printable myself. Here’s my effort – I can’t wait to see yours 🙂
I’ve been really looking forward to this course ever since Effy announced it. Good to get to know a bit more about you and your teaching!
The Goddess means protection, comfort, nurturing, connection, serenity and power of the Feminine Divine. She holds me in sleep and guides me in dreams. She is my ear when sadness or anger appears. She is under my feet and above my head. She is God Hirself, the Void and the Form.
The Goddess symbol is spiritual and enlightening!
It’s so amazing how synchronicity works! I have a research in progress about the feminine and empowerment through arts and this seminar just suits my needs.
Wonderful intro to your class, I hope to learn more!
The timing of this is perfect! Re-emerging from a struggle, I found my goddess beauty, strength & courage. <3 I can't wait to color in my goddess!! 🙂
Yes! Goddess! She’s been my hope, my comfort, my strength, and my constant companion for 30 years now. I love your visions of her and would so love to learn how to express her so beautifully myself. Radiant Faces sounds like an awesome course and an incredibly good deal!
This class looks wonderful. Thank you for this and now I’m going to go color!
Wow wow wow – that video is amazing and I would love to do the course so please enter me in your giveaway. Your style is fabulous! So impressed.
The Goddess is a symbol of the divine feminine, the embodiment of our mother, the earth, and the “radiance” of the woman within.
Thanks for the chance to win! Love Effy and love the collaboration on this project!
Many thanks!
I’ve been inspired by goddess stories ever since Jean Shinoda Bolen wrote Goddesses in Everywoman half a million years ago (okay, so about 25 yrs ago!) For years, I bought prints of every goddess or strong woman I could find, and mounted them all over my home. NOW, I paint my own, ones that aren’t inspired by mythology but my own inner consciousness.
The Goddess means to me being true to yourself, honouring and loving
The Goddess symbol means strength and safety. She is strong yet humble. Brilliant but calculated. Spiritual but grounded.
The class looks amazing, I would love to win a spot. I need to be constantly reminded to have faith in myself.
In this phase of my life the goddess symbol (archetype, energy) I most relate to is the creative aspect of the goddess. For me this creative aspect simultaneously holds the energy of birth, death, change, the patterns and forces of nature, intuition, wisdom, nurturing, protection, fierce “mother bear” energy and receptivity..openess.
Already signed up and ready to go. I can’t wait.
The Goddess is my spiritual home and reoccurs in my work often.
The Goddess has had a strong impact in my life. I didn’t *learn* about her until I was in my 30s but She has been in my life in other forms since before I was even born.
The Goddess symbol represents the creative power of feminine energy to me. This class looks fantastic!
To me the symbol means that feeling of “I can do it” That I can do anything. 🙂
The goddess symbol means strength, courage and the ultimate feminity. This workshop sounds awesome!!
The Goddess is the essence, and the oceanic depths of my being. It is amazing to see the expression of Her “beingness”, in so much art that is being created. I especially resonate, and hear Her in the pulse of the drums(ing).
Here’s my interpretation of your coloring page. Really enjoyed playing with this. It’s a busy morning ..with a lot on my schedule, but it was lovely to take a few moments to connect with the feminine divine. Was going to try to attach the pic here and couldn’t see how to do that so I decided to tweet it over here…hope this works: pic.twitter.com/Pr2DymNXcm
The Goddess symbol means strength, beauty, and receptivity, and creativity to me.
Have just downloaded the Goddess image – thank you for her :o) – will be having a play with colouring in tomorrow!
Goddesses… to me they are super women who manage families, work, take care of sick people, the elderly, their pets and anything else that comes into their lives… they do it all and with amazing grace!
Thanks for your free printable!
I’d love to win a spot in your class, thanks for the opportunity!
Strength, courage, creativity and peace. Thanks for the opportunity to win a spot for this class. It looks great!
Goddess as symbol is a reflection of the sovereign, whole, and authentic woman within each of us.
This is super exciting! A Greek goddess is the first thing I ever drew as a child, and I have studied goddesses from that point on. This class is right up my alley!
wow this course looks great I would love to win a place on it , Every one is their own goddess , we all have the power
The goddess symbol to me is a symbol of my inner strengths. I am in love with the feminine in all its aspects. This course sounds completely wonderful!!
I would love to win a spot in this class!! I really have a lot of learning/growing to do in this area so it would be perfect for me!!! fingers crossed!!!
Meant to add…thanks for the printable!!!
Oh… and I am supposed to tell you what the goddess symbol means to me…hmmm. I actually don’t know! That’s something I have some exploring to do on!
The goddess symbol, to me, means respecting myself and being the best person I can be. To dive into my soul and wash out all the un-goddess-like thoughts and feelings I might have. A goddess is a pure good symbol and I would like to think I am a goddess myself. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this class. So exciting!
The Goddess symbol means to me.. empowerment for my personal, professional and creative life.
The goddess symbol represents the life force…being connected with fertility, love, strength and empowerment. In my human struggles and weaknesses I look to the goddess symbol to find the balance between my current state and my potential. I am currently attracted to the goddess yemenja for her ability to nature and protect…qualities I seek to hone at this time of my life as I assume the responsibility of caretaking.
Laurie
I haven’t practiced faces so much, I would love to win the free spot <3.
This looks like lots of fun, would love to win julie! 🙂
to me the goddess symbol is a reminder of the sacred feminine, something i’m struggling to reclaim in my life – growing up with three brothers and then having all boys. I ache for femininity.
I love the idea of this workshop!
Would LOVE to win a spot in this fabulous workshop! Thanks for the chance.
uhhg can’t believe I didn’t follow directions correctly the first time I did this!! ::sigh:: ::keeping hope alive:: I want this class..
Oh Wow.. the more I look.. the more I am loving this class…. Really hoping to play along….. or win a seat! 🙂 Fingers, eyes and toes crossed! x
The Goddess symbol represents the feminine spirit. The Devine mother is all of us.
I pinned the image on Pintrest.
I had so much fun bringing my color in goddess to life! Thank you. I would love to learn how to create radiant goddess faces from you! xox (My color in goddess was posted via instagram and I tagged you:)
The goddess represents nurturing mother, creation and creativity, and graceful beauty. It also represents fierce inner strength, protection, and the power of intuition. The goddess represents the sacred feminine energy that resides in all living things and connects us to spirit.
The goddess represents stability & strength to me.