This is a new painting I finished a few weeks ago. 











Actually she has been on and off the easel several times in the past few years whilst I contemplated her and changed things until finally!  I got the effect I wanted.

She is Calypso, the sea nymph, the daughter of the Titan, Atlas.  She lived on a beautiful island, so beautiful that even the gods themselves were stunned by it.  It was on this island that Odysseus was shipwrecked during his travels and Calypso tended his wounds and fell in love with him, offering him immortal life and love.  She kept him on the island for seven years and Odysseus must have made the best of things as they had two children.  Finally, Athena, Odysseus' patron goddess persuaded Zeus to send Hermes to Calypso to ask her to let him go...