Sharada Navratri, nine nights (ten days) which celebrates the many faces of the goddess, is a post monsoon season autumn Hindu festival which often falls in the Western calendar months of September-October.  I take liberties to honor the Goddess in any form, not just the Hindu manifestations.

I’ve been very depressed lately…
I thought it might be good
for me to participate in Navratri…

I have painted goddess in
HUGE and small formats.
Sometimes creating the images
loosens whatever is in my head to
help me be more creative.

I chose to begin with one of
my favorite goddesses,
the ancient Bird-Goddess.
First sketch, right.
Not happy with it… it got very heavy
and messy, but I know what
I was going for…

Spiraling earthy colorful!

So I sketched the simplest shape,
with just a bit of texture, left,
to mimic the texture on my stone statue.

And I like this one better.

But I wasn’t completely satisfied.

A third, below.
I worked in inks, both waterproof and fluid…
At a middle point I didn’t like it at all,
then decided to paint with
waterproof yellow ink
and other soluble inks.

At this point I can’t even make a
decision about what I like because I
don’t like any of these… nope, I changed
my mind, I am okay with them!

And I remain stuck as ever:

Bottom line, today I suck I thought I sucked,
but upon seeing them two days later,
I am okay with this effort,
and even a bit joyful about them..

Navratri in other forms, as it is a transliteration: Nauratri, Navarathri, Navaratra,
Navratam, Nauratam or Naraate.  It literally translates as “nine days”.

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