The Transformation of Daphne Painting Process

The first painting for 2014 is for an upcoming exhibition opening next week, it is available for purchase through my Etsy shop or during the week of the exhibition. The theme for the painting is based on the Greek myth of the transformation of Daphne. Daphne is a naiad who in order to escape the amorous attentions of the god Apollo cries out to the gods for help, the gods respond by changing her into a laurel tree. Here is a nice quote I found while researching for the painting;

...a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breasts, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left.

And here's the process behind the painting - enjoy :)

Inks I used to make the darker sepia colour

Some of the paints I used

and while I was working I was visited by a little friend at the studio...

Minnie (a dingo cross) eats a rice cracker