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.

Radiant Goddess Complete signed

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.***

colour the goddess free printable

Radiant Faces Giveaway

I had a go at colouring in the printable myself. Here’s my effort – I can’t wait to see yours 🙂

radiant goddess copy