In this watercolor painting, I’ve depicted the earth goddess Houtu. In Chinese mythology and folk religion, she’s often revered as the ‘Earth Mother’, the ruler of the soil and fertility. In early myths, Houtu was originally described as male, from the 14th century onward she evolved into a female deity, worshipped for the protection of graves, harvests, and peace.

To do her story justice, I incorporated a number of symbolic elements into the artwork. First, I depicted her in traditional a Chinese hanfu in the colors green and rusty red. The green symbolizes her connection to nature, as does the flower pattern. The rusty red references the color of the sand dunes of the Red Earth Heritage Park in China. The red desert landscape is composed of Quaternary reticulated red clay. I’ve also adorned her hair with a golden crown inlaid with light blue gemstones. As an earth goddess, Houtu has a connection with nature’s bounty, including rare metals and gemstones.

In her hands, she’s holding soil, from which a Chinese elm bonsai tree is growing, to represent her being the mother of nature and fertile soil. In Chinese culture, the Chinese elm is celebrated as the ‘Tree of Harmony’ and is believed to bring inner peace, balance and good fortune. Behind the tree I’ve added a light to showcase that from nature everything grows. The light around the bonsai tree looks almost like a massive sun, shining on te mountains. The river in the background is the Yellow River, which is the longest river of China and according to legend, Houtu made the Yellow River Map.

I loved creating this piece, from the research into the myth, to the different ideas on how I was going to depict her, to the drawing and then finally painting her. I put a lot of care and passion into this piece. With much precision, I painted all the tiny details in her eyes, her hair, her crown, dress and into the river, tree and mountains.