First larger painting for 2012- finding a more mysterious girl...

A very early good morning from OKC! I have been floating on that good "just-finished-a-painting" feeling. I know artists who are sad to leave a painting behind (sometimes this stalls my completion of a piece-oh no!) but I finished last night but I am still pretty happy about it, because I sketched her onto canvas mid-November of last year and the holidays and holiday projects had left her on my easel to wait patiently for me to spend some time on her. I think it was time well spent!

This year I have planned out a series of pop-surreal style portraits to bring my fantasy style into a more contemporary setting and incorporate a more relatable narrative. In other pieces I will often research little things about the elements I incorporate (are the butterflies/flowers consistent with the nationality of the girl in the picture or I look up photos of kimono patterns to base my designs) but this one was intuitive on selection with it's components.
Title: "Really Love Your Secrets (Wanna Shake Your Tree)"
Size: 22x28"
Medium: acrylic on stretched canvas
There is a watermark on the image. I have been reading a lot of debate over watermarking one's images and I have decided why not? I display my art in several places that get viewed by several anonymous sources (and one site I am about to pull upon finding out they have had many "rumors" of selling work copied directly from other artists) so I like having a little link to my site displayed should I be lucky enough for someone decide to save/share/pin the image. They are never present in originals or prints.

The bird is a Stellar's Jay. I did not know at the time, but was told after I painted this that he represents a trickster to the Chinook, so I feel like he was an interesting (and possibly intuitive?) choice for the piece too. The original is for sale and I can also make on-request (open edition) prints of her at this time. If you would like to inquire regarding either, just send me an email!

Also just a reminder, I still have 2 days left in my giveaway!  If you want to participate, the instructions are here. I will announce the winner Wednesday! 



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