Venus

Answering to an open call by Poets and Artists publication about a themed “Venus” issue, i decided to participate. Open calls to me are not a competitive challenge, but an idea for work, an opportunity to explore a theme.
Venus is obviously associated with iconic Boticcelli tempera, although it had been rendered endlessly over the ages. I came across a story once, that Venus came out of a severed penis of a male god (Neptune?) which gives the subtle erotic explanation of metaphoric meaning of foam she, more commonly, appears from.
I never found any reference to this story, either in Virgil or Ovid. It might have been someone’s modern fantasy.
Still in my painting both the foam and the Venus-shell are present.
A more biologically correct version of a Venus-shell is a clam shell, also known as christian symbol further pointing to Magdalelene, and familiar as a prize one receives after completing a piligrimage to Santiago de Compostella, in its turn having Roslyn as first, or reversed, final destination in old days. It is often seen as decoration of altars, a symbol integrted as jewelry, or a randomly scattered object in christian artworks. Mine is more of a fantasy oyster shell, having venus as a little hidden pearl, just about to come out.