The Road to Majesty

MAJESTY

“She is born from the clouds, unclothed, unsullied, with no need for shame. She is powerful, and she knows that. She proudly stands in a pedestal of clouds, in all her glorious form, in all her majesty.

She watches over the world. Her wind is gentle, and she sends it to those who need it most. She is a queen, a goddess, no less. Yet, she is benevolent, she is giving. She prays for you, that you may find inspiration in all your works, that you may be able to create something that will inspire others too.

She watches over the world, forever the guardian.

She watches over me, and she blesses me with the passion for my chosen crafts.”

~ MARIGOLD ANDRES UY

MAJESTY is an unplanned artwork, a part of a bigger, unplanned series. She came when I was starting my painting phase again. Because, first and foremost, I am a writer, so my inspirations swing from either whipping up a whole novel or, like this time, birthing one painting to another.

My painting phase began a few weeks after Mom’s death, and it became my outlet, perhaps to divert my attention from doing nothing at all. MAJESTY came to me unexpectedly. She was the product of maybe a vague dream. I had always wanted to paint goddesses, and I’ve been painting them, but have never been satisfied.

This artwork is like a eureka moment, a sudden and quick ascension to enlightenment. She was sketched pretty vaguely at first too. My first attempt, I wasn’t too happy, and the second sketch, I was still skeptical. When I started coloring her, the skin tone was too yellow. But as many others have always said when things go wrong, ‘trust the process’.

So I did, and I pushed through with the color of her skin.

Painting her was a trail of mistakes. I had to cover up many things, until I deemed them acceptable. She is not perfect, but she is coming together. During the process, her eyes were the most annoying ones I did. Then, came her clothes, which was supposed to be another color, but hey, since when did my painting go according to plan?

As I went by, I learned to appreciate her, and that was perhaps the most fulfilling part of the whole painting. She wasn’t perfect, but she came to be the artwork that I began to adore.

One more thing I have experienced while working on her was the fact that I painted her for almost eight hours. The first six hours was the first day: I began her sketch at around five in the evening, just after resting. I didn’t know I would be standing all night, waiting for my best friend to finish one chapter of her book.

See, we’re writers, my best friend and I. But we’re also artists. We draw.

So, while she was writing the night away, I began to paint. She had been pretty fired up with the chapter of her book, so I colored while waiting for her to finish.

For most of the time, I complained. About my mistakes. About the eyes. Always the eyes. Never the skin tone, because I loved how it turned out. I complained about my sore feet, because the canvas lay on the high countertop of the kitchen, and I was too short to reach every nook and cranny of the canvas.

I complained about the hair, and though I did say MAJESTY is one of my dream artworks come true, I whined all the time making her. It was worth it.

When my best friend was done writing, it was already around eleven. I was almost done with the painting, all that was left was her wings. Just the wings! I had already tied my ponytail, and this is always what my best friend calls as my ‘serious mode’.

I was too fired up with the painting already, I wanted to finish it already. But my feet and my already sleepy eyes weren’t going to cooperate with me anymore.

With slight hesitance, I left her in the darkness of the night.

Come morning, I was excited to finish her. I lingered about it, just as I had finished breakfast. Coffee was ready, my hair was up again, and there was a pair of wings that needed to be done.

Ready as ever, I grabbed my brush, mixed the colors I needed, and started to work on her feathers. When I was done, I called out to my best friend, and were proud sisters to this creation. We held it high, we took pictures, but the camera couldn’t justify the quality.

But we were proud, nevertheless.

And perhaps, that started something. It sparked my passion for colors, my passion for goddesses, my desire to create works of art that will hopefully inspire others to create too. MAJESTY is the one who started the spark. More than the rest of my works did. Perhaps, her name suits her too. She is ever beautiful, ever powerful, just like I would hope for my works to be.

I hope every artist could find their own MAJESTY, something they would be proud of, something that would make them feel worthy with sharing their craft to the world. Something that will inspire them to create and be creative.

I hope MAJESTY will inspire you too.