I have a confession to make: I don’t much like purple (even though it is my husband’s favourite colour). So I just had to take up the Mixed Media Monday challenge to create something in purple and gold. I thought it would do me good to go beyond my favourite palette of browns, blues and pinks.

The combination of purple and gold immediately sparked an idea: Theodora. Dancer, actress, courtesan, she was born as far from the purple as she could be—but ended up marrying into it, and becoming one of the cleverest, most powerful empresses Byzantium ever had.

Theodora collage for Mixed Media Monday

So here’s my take on Theodora—a golden collage of her face (my drawing of the Ravenna mosaic) framed by sequins and stars on a watercolour paper base painted a deep purple. For some reason, the purple veered red in the scan, but it really is a deep purple in the original!