I paint with acrylics on watercolor paper, using the process of layering the paint and scratching back to reveal unique colors and textures in my paintings.
 
Ishtar is the ancient Babylonian goddess represented by an 8-pointed star. Ishtar is associated with the planet Venus; and like Venus, she represents beauty and the fullness of womanhood.  Her association to Venus is why the star has 8 points.  The planet Venus in her dance around the sun with earth takes 8 years.  Venus's movement with the sun and earth is in a 1.6 ratio pattern which is the golden mean ratio and one reason why Venus may represent beauty. 
 
I thought that information was interesting and so I was inspired to paint an 8-pointed star.  I started with a small center circle and then a large cross and next add the diagonal cross and then put in the triangles to complete the star. I added the other elements to take some focus away from the symmetrical focus of the star. It was fun to paint and turned out fairly bright, like a star.