This week we continue with the Healing & the Feminine Archetype theme. This lesson was taught by
Alena Hennessy who showed us how to paint a muse!
Alena talked about the different goddesses and what they represent.
I chose again to go back to my roots and explore the Aztec goddesses.
I chose the goddess Chicomecoatl. (chico meh, co atl)
Her themes are fire, providence, energy, community, abundance, fertility and strength.
Her symbols are hot spices (especially chili peppers), corn and fire. In Mexico the goddess presides over maize and all matters of plenty during the time of harvest. She is also the earth goddess and provides warmth, energy and fertility to those in need.
I chose her because she represents abundance and strength and because I love corn tortillas and chili peppers.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art : “the headdress is known as amacalli(“paper house”); it is the most typical attribute of the corn goddess.”
One aspect of the Aztec gods and goddesses were their insatiable thirst for blood. I will spare you the details of how she was commemorated every September.
She comes in various appearances: a girl with water flowers. She is regarded as the female counterpart of the maize god Cinteotl, their symbol being an ear of corn.
I really enjoyed drawing and painting this girl. I used watercolor paper, Pitt markers, india ink, and acrylic paints, and color sprays. I might have taken too long and not be too intuitive, but I wanted to include all the symbols she represents.
The title – Chicomecoatl goddess of Maize and Strength
Corn,
Chilies,
Strength and Abundance
Her sweet face 🙂
That is it for now, friends, posting this goddess made me hungry for tacos! LOL
Keep having fun and thanks for coming to visit!
Carmen
It has come to my attention that the image I used to create “Chicomecoatl goddess of Maize,” was actually posted on a blog without the original artist’s permission. I publicly apologize for this omission, but just as I explained to the artist, Oesparza12, (sorry, she didn’t leave her full name on her comment on this post) I used Google’s search engine and it took me to the blog where this art was posted.
Visionary Art by Carmen Alicia 
This is superb, Carmen! She is definitely one of my favourite goddesses that have been shared as part of that Life Book lesson. The skin tones are lovely, the bright, vivid colours and joyful and the eyes are so engaging. Gorgeous! I really like the meanings behind Chicomecoatl. I like what she represents and I enjoy her food. I will skip the blood offerings though. Really well done on an excellent painting.
Aww, thanks Laura! I searched the web and found a photo of a painting that represented her, I just used what I’ve learned in FB to reproduce it.
Such a super cute painting!
Thank you for your nice comment and for visiting my blog!
It is interesting how many takes on the Corn deities of preColumbian mythology there are. That also applies to the diverse rendering of representations in the art of these goddessess. I have to take exception to your painting here. It interestingly resembles my painting of this corn goddess which I titled Xilonen Diosa del Maiz which I painted in watercolor in 1998 for an exhibit at Self Help Graphics & Art Inc and which has been documented in the media and published in catalogs. It was inspired by my extensive research of Precolumbian Deities, and the study of the many ancient sculptural renditions of the Corn Goddess aka. Xilonen, Chicomecoatl, and several other names. I first saw my painting in the WordPress blog called “Journeying the Goddess” in 2014, used without my permission, even with several requests to give me credit as the artist, and even though it may used for educational purposes. When you look at my original, I invented the corn breastplates and the headdress, as well as my own rendition of the symbols. Even the colors in your piece are much in alignment to my piece. Yes, I did not include the chiles as you have. I am just concerned that artists’ works are not given provenance in order protect their work for their intellectual ownership and rights. I just want you to be aware of this, If there is no credit given to a posted piece of art, it is quite likely that it has been posted without the artist’s permission or knowledge.
Dear oesparza12. I apologize for not giving you credit, but I did extensive research as well and did not see your name on the page I went to. I googled “Mexican Goddess of Maize” and that is where the search enchine took me. If the image on the blog “Journeying the Goddess” is your image and they did not give you credi, you should have acted immediately to protect your work and your intellectual ownership and rights of the image. Why didn’t you have them take the image off their blog? I used the image as a reference for maize and did color it the same as yours because the corn is yellow and the leaves are green in real life, not because I was copying your breastplate. My work was done in acrylics, and the face is one that I came up with myself after taking different art classes. Your goddess looks more indigenous and my intention was to create a whimsical looking goddess to go along with the theme of our class in Life Book 2015, “The Muse.” I am very careful when it comes to dieties and I almost did not create anything for this class because of my religious beliefs. Now that I know you had the image posted first, I will give you credit for the likeness on my post. Thank you for bringing this up to my attention and I wish you the best in the future.
Thank you for replying to my post and thank you for acknowledging the provenance of My art piece. Since I am also an educator, this is the only request I have made to anyonewho posts, or is inspired by my work for educational purposes and/or for nonpofit purpose. As for “journeying the Goddess” blog it has not responded to the several requests I have made fot the past several months (although I see credit given to some of their other artwork). As far as I can see. there is no access for my request to be replied to, in fact my comments are not even posted for more than a few hours. But from time to time, I keep vigilant. I appreciate your response. I wish you well and much success.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
Thank you for replying to my post and for acknowledging the provenance of My art piece. Since I am also an educator, this is the only request I make to anyone who posts or is inspired by my work as long as it is used for educational and/or for nonpofit purposes. As for.”Journeying the Goddess “, I have not seen a reply to my requests over th past few months. As far as I can see., there is no access for a response to my comments, in fact, my comments only remain for some hours and them the do not appear again. But I remain vigilant from time to time. Thank you, again, for your response, I wish you much success.
I believe in fairness. That is all.
Carmen, I must tell you that I looked into your blog and saw your artwork and your comments about your research. I find your personal style innovative, and it is beautiful. I appreciate the teaching that goes along with your work. Gracias
Thank you for your nice comment. It means a lo to me especially coming from an educator.