I saw her when I was taking a shower. It was only through the steamy shower curtain that she was visible to me.
When I got out of the shower and looked at the place where she appeared to me on the flowery embroidered curtain on the bathroom window, she vanished. She could only be seen through the thin layer of mist.
At the time I didn’t know she was a Naiad. But I assumed she had something to do with the water streaming out of the showerhead onto me. The same water that is siphoned from the ground under the house by a short metal point driven into the earth in our basement. Much shallower than a well and more direct.
I knew there had to be some kind of goddess that was the origin or protector of such water.
So I took her picture through the moist shower curtain, then did a drawing of her from the photo.
Calling her “Shower Woman” I found some vintage linen napkins with birds and greenery embroidered on them in my stash and stitched her using my sewing machine.
Then I filled her in with color and beads.
Finally, I sewed her onto another piece of fabric from my stash and made a pillow for her to rest on.
It was only when I had finished her that I googled “water goddess” and found out about Naiads.
“Naiads, the fresh-water Nymphs of Greek Mythology” meaning “flowing ones”. Goddess-Protectors of the water we depend on to drink, cook with and wash with. In art, Naiads are traditionally beautiful women near streams, springs or fountains with a jug of water or “a frond of lush foliage.”
Did she come to me to remind me of the preciousness of water, or as a way of honoring it?
I am always grateful to the water when I step in the shower in the morning, but I take it more for granted at the kitchen sink, the washing machine, and the toilet bowl. Even though I know in many places and even just a few towns south of the farm, in Hoosick Falls there are people who can’t drink the water that comes out of their tap.
I made three more Naiads which I’ll also add color and beads to, then make into pillows.
For now, my first Naiad Pillow, called “Naiad with the Moon” is for sale in my Etsy Shop. She’s 16″x16″ and is $85 including shipping. You can buy her here.
Farm Woman, woman of the Earth, you are loved! Truly, only one who loves the Earth so would love her component parts, water being the most important for life and used with utmost care. Thank you, Maria. . .veronica
I loved your poem about the same Veronica.
Thank you for sharing your creative process so openly. As I read it, I felt so warm, like I was seeing into your very being. And best of all, I know the results are exactly as you want them.