“Golden Goddess" -Origins of Woman Series 8 - Oil & Cold Wax Painting by Marilyn Wells

20" x 24" Oil painting with cold wax on Canvas

This painting was inspired by:

they bend as though it was natural and godly to bend,

    they rise in a stiff sweetness,

         in the pure peace of giving

            one's gold away.

~ Mary Oliver “Goldenrod” 22080C

Oil and Cold wax painting in vibrant golds, yellows, and blues with some quinacridone reds. The "Golden Girl", with a circlet of victory in her hair, has arrived at the summit of the mountain peak amidst rough, rocky terrain. She has arrived at the summit, the Feminine Divine sensibility we must reclaim.

I've been exploring a technique new to me but that's been around for hundreds of years - cold wax. I have always loved the icons of the Middle East and the Orthodox churches in particular, and wanted to introduce more of the rich and broken textures that appear in those icons after a few hundred years of wear and weathering. I am delighted to say I am achieving the results I want, as in this painting, larger than my earlier ones.

This painting is about luxuriating in the beauty of nature and art as they come together in a richly textured surface. The subject matter is mystical and romantic, which appeals to me in many ways.

This oil painting is a unique art work on 4x primed, heavy canvas. It comes with its own Certificate of Authentication.

FIGURATIVE ARTIST STATEMENT

I paint the feeling tone of “The Feminine Divine” in oil and cold wax medium. The Feminine Divine is not only woman, though we often express as such. The Feminine Divine is imbued in all elements of love, warmth, and caring, embodied in every person who invites these qualities. It is the renewed era we are regaining against the overly-aggressive ego tendencies of the masculine, which have plundered the earth to date. We must change the tide or perish on our beloved planet. We must embody the Feminine Divine.

Because I long for color and I thirst for line, I reveal light against the darkness and strive to reveal the inner light shining within persons I paint, often based on Neolithic Figures 10-20,000 years old. I love the sense that I am touching hands with the Feminine Divine in individual women that long ago.

Growing up in rural Nebraska during and after WWII, I saw worlds beyond mine through line drawings in children’s story book.

I’m happy to send more photos and details upon request. 

Prints available. Contact me.