Hi Guys!

I just came back home from a 10 days trip! I went to visit a good friend in Bahia, and I went to see Salvador for the first time... and what a lovely city it is! The beaches and streets are beautiful...

In there I got in contact with the Candomblé and Orishas. Candomblé is a polytheistic religion that worships a number of gods, derived from African deities. An Orisha, also spelled Orixa and Orixá, is a spirit which reflects one of the manifestations of God. To their followers, however, the Orisha are not remote divinities; on the contrary, they are vibrant, living entities who take an active part in everyday life.

The Candomblé deities have individual personalities, skills, and ritual preferences, and are connected to specific natural phenomena. Following the African belief systems from which Candomble is derived, every person is born with a "patron" god.

I met a "priest" from a candomblé center, for I got fascinated with this culture, and asked her which one was my "Patron God", and she told me, after analizing me, that I was a daughter of Iemanjá.

She is the ocean, the essence of motherhood, and a protector of children. They portray her as a woman rising out of the sea. Every February 2 in Salvador there is a celebration of Iemanjá, which involves thousands of people lining up at dawn to leave their offerings at her shrine in Rio Vermelho. Presents for Iemanjá usually include flowers, perfume, and objects of female vanity (jewelry, combs, mirrors).

So, I decided to make a portrait of my 'mother".
Here's the most common portrait you can find of her: [link]
Long white/blue dress, long dark hair... and in the ocean, of course.

So, this is my portrait of her...
Give a hurray for Carol for painting the waves, sky and rocks all by herself! Hurray!!


All thanks to awesome tutorials by:
`jezebel - [link]
*Fatal-mantis85 - [link]

Stock pose by lovely *Lisajen-stock - [link]

Made on Photoshop CS2. (yes, I changed. LOL!)


This image is not to be tagged, edited, iconized or anything of the sorts.