Artemis with kelp holdfast, 4 May 2020

On a beach walk to Bulli headland the sand looked as if it were covered with spiders, which turned out to be the dried holdfasts from the forests of kelp torn from their anchor in the ocean. Walkers were carefully spaced far apart along the great sweep of the beach. Notices stuck in the sand said "Swimming not advisable" but black wetsuited surfers on boards were poised on mountainous curling waves. Artemis arrived in the watercolour drawn by the wildness of the fragment of seaweed. She was a goddess who hid in the deep recesses of forest or mountain; as "mistress of the beasts" she was kin to animals and vulnerable creatures.The neglect of children undermines a society and perhaps this is why she was given charge of childbirth and the care of children, especially young girls. They came to her sanctuary in Brauron in Attica and were called "little bears" while they were being trained to control their animal natures and become proper women. The Presbyterian school I went to would have approved.

Diana Wood Conroy 'Artemis with kelp holdfast', watercolour on Arches paper, 15 x 21 cm, 4 May 2020