Amaterasu

This very glowing goddess is a giclée print based on my original watercolor/mixed media painting. Amaterasu is the goddess of the Sun in the Shinto pantheon of ancient Japan. She is draped with silk brocades of gold and red decorated with roosters and sun wheels, all symbols of this solar goddess. Her eyes and hair are the blue of the sky, her lips and brows red as the solar disk she holds in her fingertips. Her skin is bright white as the sun appears in the midday sky. Amaterasu is an embodiment of light in a spinning whorl of primary colors. She wears earrings in the shape of magatama, an ancient comma shaped amulet sacred in the Japanese culture. "This comma-shaped stone jewel from Japan is called a magatama (勾玉 or 曲玉). ‘Maga’ means curved or bent, and ‘tama’ means precious stone or gem. Magatama date back to the Neolithic period, and are typically made of stone, glass or jade. Their curved shape is thought to represent animal teeth and claws. Magatama are both personal orname