Divine Feminine

Goddess Within (intaligo, aquatint, watercolor, collage) Andrea Hathaway ©2012

I believe in a God, I pray to a God, but I feel a profound hope and love for a Mother God. A Goddess who protects the divine feminine within myself. The great bearer of life which carries me and defines me rather than merely creating me and setting me free.

I am very interested in the divine feminine and how it relates to my place in this world. Religiosity aside, I believe that women have a divine spark in them that is separate and different from men. Primarily, it manifests in a woman's ability to bear children. I cannot bear children. It is a source of sorrow for me. Adoption and fostering are of course options, but I am not entirely committed to taking the risk of fostering a child and adoption is incredibly expensive.

Does that mean that I as a barren woman forgo the divine feminine within? I don't think so. I believe that my art and my creativity are just as relevant a form of creation as bearing children. I choose to believe that the pull to create and make art is that divine feminine made realized within me. I expect as I continue down this creative path, there will be more art depicting the Goddess I believe represents my creative soul. The sacred that calls out to my heart.

All the Pretty Colors

Orange Thread                                              ©Andrea Hathaway 2012

I have only ever stole one thing in my life...

Two of my most favorite places in the world are the paint chip aisle at the hardware store and the thread aisle at the fabric store. There is something about the multitude of variegated colors that calls out to my heart and speaks of endless possibilities...

I must have felt this same attachment as a child.  When I was three my mother took me with her to the local Hancock Fabric store. The call of the thread aisle was more than I could bear. The beautiful colors sitting right there for me to touch and feel—hold in my hand. I don't remember which color caught my fancy that day, but I know that I got as far as being strapped into my car seat before my mom noticed the spool of thread I gripped in my hand. I remember crying and digging in my heels as she tried to make me go into the shop to confess my crime. I must have been so embarrassing, because in the end she just ran in and put the spool back where it belonged and we went home.

Luckily for me, paint chips are free for the taking. I get my fix for colors I can hold in my hand every time I go to the hardware store.

Finding My Art...

"Embraced by the Moon"                                    © Andrea Hathaway 2012

It's been a long time since I actually painted, or did anything that could be considered art. Sure, I made a few stained glass pieces. Which, I suppose you could call art. But, truly spending time in the process, feeling out what I wanted to say... Painting... Drawing... Creating... Hasn't happened. Not since I started graduate school, four years ago. Not since I graduated from graduate school, two years ago. It has weighed heavily on my heart, this period of artistic nonproductivity. It made me jealous as I read the many artist's blogs I follow. It made my heartache when suddenly Pinterest became the social network—pushing amazing art across my screen. 

Then, through the help of a dear friend and mentor, I was able to proudly proclaim my internal artist. I embraced the artist inside and accepted my responsibility to create art. During our conversation, my friend asked me: "If you were to make a piece of art right this minute what would you do and how would you do it." I immediately thought of a watercolored night sky, the moon and trees. This is the piece that came from my conversation with my friend. This is the first piece in my journey to reclaim the artist that I am.