Maia, a Spring Goddess

Maia, Goddess of Growth

This is an illustration from my 2017 calendar. It's thought that May gets its name from the Roman goddess, Maia.

The Greeks also had a Maia, mother of the god Hermes. It could be that the Roman goddess was based on the Greek one, or it could be that there were originally two, and their stories mingled together.

I based the woman's hair and t-shirt on this Greek vase, which shows Maia and her son.

 

To create the image, I drew the figure in black biro (this is my favourite medium) and colouring pencil. I made the background using buttons, dried lavender, rose petals and colouring pencil on a recycled green card stock. Then I digitally superimposed the figure on the background.

I sell this as an A6 greetings card, printed onto 100% post-consumer recycled card stock and paired with a recycled envelope. If you bought this in a shop or at a market, it will have been protectively packaged in what looks like cellophane, but is actually a 100% biodegradable material made from cornstarch.