Searching for patron deities

Hello,
fellow pagans (⚆_⚆)

Can you
tell I'm reluctant to use that term?

I've been
struggling with my faith and beliefs for some time. Ever since I
started doubting the teachings of the catholic church in elementary
school, I've been searching for ways to express my spirituality. My
problem with that is I'm sceptical of any organised religion or
standardised practices. Okay, I'll spare you the details, or we'll be
here for hours. My writing this essay is enough.

Since I'm an
aspiring artist, I decided I need a patron deity/spirit/whatever of
the arts. Just a personification of a concept to turn to in my
meditations. And with that, my first problem became evident. Painting
and the visual arts became regarded as important fairly recently.
Before the Middle Ages, the title of sacred art belonged to poetry
and song. It's hard to imagine a world dominated by visual stimuli.
From what I remember of my history lessons, painting was used purely
for decoration. It was simply too fragile to be worthwhile, and
people lacked the resources to make it last. 

Unfortunately, I
had to abandon the idea of finding a spiritual patron in the Slavic
pantheon. Before as well as after accepting Christianity, Slavic
people were focused on agriculture. Most of the deities and
spirits/demons focus on the forces of nature. There was no need or
time for a guardian for such abstract ideas.

The second thing I
did was to search for patron saint of the arts. The Catholic church
has a nice habit of replacing pagan deities with its own saints. So I
thought, I find a saint, I see where they are pretty revered, and
then find local pre-Christian spirits. I actually found one, and was
pleasantly surprised for them to be a woman. Catherine of Bologna, or
de Vigri if you prefer her actual name. She lived in the fifteenth
century and was an educated and talented woman. She is celebrated every
year in Bologna in the middle of March. (That will be kinda important
later, trust me.) Alas, I feel very uncomfortable involving real
historical figures in my little rituals, so I searched for something
else.

As you'd expect,
Greek mythology was helpful with the muses. But as I mentioned
earlier, most people focused on music and poetry back then. Artistry
ended with the usefulness of the physical creation. Hephaistos was
the ugliest after all. The one muse I could somewhat relate to was
Calliope. She was the patron of epic poetry and eloquence. See, this
agrees with my definition of art. You need a medium and a message.
She seems like a deity to help with the clarity of my storytelling,
so I decided to keep her around for now.

But even though
Calliope was somewhat of a successful find, she was decidedly not a
patron of painters. No Greek deity was, really. The closest I could
think of was Aglaea, one of the three Charities (or Graces). Her
domains were beauty, splendour, glory and adornment. And she was the
second wife of Hephaistos. Very fitting if you ask me. I see her as a
patron of the visual side of things, opposed to Calliope. The two
together have me covered, but I was still unsatisfied. I wanted a
painting god specifically!

So I dug even
deeper, outside of Ancient Greece. Finally... Behold, Menrva! You may
think this is just Roman Minerva, but you'd be only partially right.
While she is the Etruscan counterpart of Roman Minerva and Greek
Athena, she does have some differences. So, I don't know as much
about Minerva, but Athena is primarily associated with wisdom,
occasionally strategy and warfare. Her patronage of crafts doesn't
come up as much in my experience. Contrary to that, Menrva was
worshipped primarily by workers and craftspeople. Her domains reflect
that, as she was a guardian of the arts and learning. Painting
included, yay! Now, for the funny thing, remember the date when
Catherine of Bologna is honoured? Yeah, Menrva has her own special
day, not even a week later, during the vernal equinox. Just like with
many saints and Catholic holidays in my country, it's only a few days
removed from older pagan practices. I'm not saying they have to be
connected, just a funny coincidence in my eyes. 

Now you see, I
finally have my chosen patrons and can start crafting my own little
rituals. I plan to do a little meditation before I start working on a
project. Maybe I'll have a tea blend reserved for that specifically.
I will integrate other small things into my routine as I figure out
what suits me the most. Whatever works, right?

I saved my question
for last. What are your own practices? What was your process of
discovering your spirituality? Does having ideas personified also
help you focus on your little rituals? Consider this my invitation to
a broader discussion. I'm very curious about how people practice
faith in opposition to mainstream religions.

P.S.
Here are some links to the sites I learned from. (Some of them haven't been updated in ten years; visit at your own risk!)
St. Catherine, in Polish
Calliope
Aglaea
Menrva
Etruscan deities