The Green Lady

date added:

12•28•2003

media:
watercolor pencil; watercolor; acrylic paint

myths & tales:
• I offer an organic cotton T-shirt whith this piece on it at the Autumnsphinx Giftshop •
    Technically, this piece is a work in progress. It has really been in progress since this past summer (2003), but when college began I had little time to work on personal art projects. I do hope to finish it someday, but I am still pleased with its current state and wanted to share it with others.
    You may be familiar with "Green Men" or "The Green Man" - a personification of the forest, flora, and fauna whose face is delineated by foliage. His various likenesses appear on architecture throughout the Western World on buildings secular and religious, ancient and modern. (Some like to claim that his representation on Christian Churches was a clever means to harken back to a Pagan past the church would prefer to suppress.)
     This image represents His less commonly known female counterpart - The Green Lady or Green Woman (Brian Froud identifies her with the Celtic Sheela-na-Gig). However, this Green Lady is a particular sort of Green Lady as She exists in the forests by my home. The leaves that sprout from her forehead as well as from the twig/pen are those of the Yellow Poplar a.k.a.Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). These incredibly tall trees can be found surrounding the house.
    If you're interested in the Green Woman and/or the Green Man, may I suggest visiting:
        The Green Man and the Green Woman
- an essay and a collection of art by various mythopoetic artists
        The Green Man: Variations on a Theme
- an essay with photographs of architectural Greenman
        A Love of Monsters
- a photographic journey through New York City containing some American Greenmen as well as other gargoyles and grotesques