My inspiration for Splendor of Woman I came when Elizabeth, the daughter of Zoe, my friend from the La Pena Chorus in Berkeley, California, came of age. When she turned thirteen, Elizabeth was to undergo a special ceremony as part of her Native American Lakota culture. This prompted the first painting in the series. After I completed that first painting, I continued on. I gifted the rest of the paintings to two dear friends when they married, Millie and Rosa, a couple that I met in Nicaragua.