Like the “Goddess and her ladies in moon light,” I struggled and agonised for a long time with this painting, I think any painting of this size will take its toll on you, for that matter a painting of any size will. I have a blank canvas, an idea, my paints, brushes palate knife ready, maybe its to paint a nude, but my hands won’t do what my head is telling it to do I just can’t paint what it is I want to. I work with my inner voice, my feelings, until I’m happy with my work, I have spent ages working on a painting and when finished I’m not sure what it is but I know I’m not happy with it, I have to paint over it and start again, done that many times. But this time I was really struggling while working on it, I think I spent more time looking at it then painting it, then I see something in the canvas, an image, I don’t know where it comes from but I can see it as plain as daylight, so I follow the image I see, and end up with something completely different. It’s a bit like Michelangelo’s quote “I see an angel and carve it from marble.” I now think I understand what he means. Like the “Goddess and her ladies in moon light” I wanted it very colourful with rich reds, blues, greens and yellows. I wanted the painting to make a statement to look stunning hanging on a wall with the right lighting. I looked to Botticelli for inspiration I love his use of colours. I called it “Goddess and Temptation” because the lady is tempting the Goddess with a apple, I used a apple as it’s symbolic with the garden of Eden, and beauty, but not everything beautiful is good, I also used the serpent who is whispering for the Goddess to take the apple, but I don’t know why, maybe the lady wants to be the Goddess and the apple is full of poison, who knows………. My ladies are lying on a lustrous bed of silken scarfs and cushions, their hands adorned by gloves so their touch is sensuous. They are exquisite, voluptuous, luscious timeless and without boundaries or nationalities.