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Daphne, a figure of Greek Mythology, was a virginal Naiad-Nymph, devoted to chastity, and the daughter of the river God, Peneus. She was famous for being incredibly beautiful and loved by the god, Apollo. Apollo was the son of Zeus. It was his job to pull the sun across the sky by his 4-horse chariot every day. He was also the God of music, poetry, and art.
Apollo had been mocking the God of Love, Eros, (Cupid). Apollo has recently been victorious over Python, a Earth dragon, piercing his body with 1,000 arrows. He told Eros that his godly talents were useless when compared to his own.
"Impudent boy, what are you doing with a man's weapons? That one is suited to my shoulders, since I can hit wild beasts with a certainty, and wound my enemies... you should be intent on stirring the concealed fires of love with your burning brand, not laying claim to my glories"
Eros retaliated by firing two arrows, a gold arrow that struck Apollo and made him fall madly in love with Daphne and a lead arrow that made Daphne hate Apollo.
Daphne dedicated herself to perpetual virginity, never wanting a man in her life. Her father knew that her beauty would make it impossible to prevent suitors from coming to her.
One day Apollo is walking in the woods and spots Daphne up ahead in a clearing. within an instant, he falls madly in love with her. He quickly rushs toward her, calling out her name, but she immediately flees.
Daphne did not know who was pursuing her and runs ahead of Apollo, even after he reminds her that "All acknowledge me king, in all of the lands! My father is Jupiter!" He begs her to stop but she continued to ignore him.
He closes in at full speed and grabs her, but she manages to escape him and quickens her pace. They are soon insight of her father's waters, Exhausted, overcome by the efforts of her escape, and sensing that she is about to be caught, she yells to her father for help.
"Help me father! If your streams have divine powers, change me and destroy this beauty that pleases too well."
No sooner than the cry left her mouth, she felt a heavy numbness seize her limbs. Thin bark closed over her breast, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches. Her feet were stuck in slow growing roots. Her face was lost in the canopy. She had become a Laurel Tree. Apollo cried out in complete heartbreak.
Even in this state, Apollo could not help but love her. He touched the trunk f the tree and could feel her heartbeat. He tried to kiss the bark but it shrank away from him. In spite of her insistence that he leave, Apollo wowed to honor her forever.
"We kiss before we burn. You shall be treasured forever as my now precious tree."
He made a crown of her branches to wear upon his head.
Incidentally, a laurel wreath worn upon one's head would signify victory, triumph, and achievement Laurel would adorn he heads of royals and the champions of game and battle for years to come.
Yes, you guessed it! Your challenge this week is to create a art piece from this epic tale of love and heartbreak! You can create this from any point of view...Gothic, Romantic, Comedic.
Remember, there is no specific way to create this so just relax and let your imagination and creative spirit do all of the work! I cannot wait to see why you will come up with!
I have posted a Page of Free Images for you to use in your artwork!
Here is my
Desperate Daphne Creation!
I will not lie!! This was a challenge! I constructed the tree bark, piece by piece, the same with the tree limbs, the vines, leaves, roots....it took all day! Very time consuming but worth working on it! I finally thought I was finished but then I got the idea to fill the forest with animals because I did not want Daphne to be alone!
Digital art created from Itkupilli's Woodland Creatures Digital Kit, Wikipedia, Pixabay, and Miriam's Digital Kit Scraps
