always a reflection

ALWAYS A REFLECTIN. Prints available in my etsy shop.

This girl is really quite remarkable. She went through such an incredible change. If you've been a reader of this blog, you'll know I've been painting quite a lot of owls. And Paulette over at Summerland Cottage suggested to me that I paint an owl in a tree with one of my girls.So I had that in my head when I started this painting (and you can still see that owl in the "tree" which turned into a rainbow in the sky).

I began this piece using some of the techniques I've been inspired by in Misty Mawn's Stretching Within e-course. 

I went through my vintage postcards and fell in love with some of the old postage marks and stamps, so I used those along with layers and layers of acrylics.

Once I had my background, I went ahead with my character and scene. I haven't painted one of my girls in a while, so for reference, I used one of my business cards with an image of my piece 

FRESH FROM THE OCEAN.

sometimes i feel like having an image for reference frees up my creative side so i'm not so scared to paint something ugly. i feel a bit more like i know what i'm doing.

but even still, i focused on painting the owl.

and when it came time to paint the girl's face, i felt so lost! i kept thinking, i completely forgot how to paint a human face! and i really didn't want to take this photo at all. i just wanted to cover her up and try again, but i made myself snap this shot and post it so you could see (and so i could remind myself) that sometimes it takes a lot of layers and working on something again and again to get to that thing you're happy with.

because this, took A LOT of layers. and really, it was all about finding that beehive hair! that's where i found her personality. yet i still wasn't happy with it. so i added a little more peachy paint to get softer features.

then i really resisted her butterfly wings! (even though i so love them now!).

i added a bit more depth to her ball skirt and was trying to figure out what to do with that tree. something about it was bugging me...

 so i got rid of the tree and the owl went with!

then came the rainbow! 

and when I look at this finished painting, i take a deep breath. it's so a reflection of how I feel! and i am just in love with that pretty pastel rainbow (something i normally would never ever do!).

But that rainbow is just so transparent and breathtaking. And that girl is so trying to tell her story. And that little owl up there that is just hiding in the fog, just after the rain (i couldn't get rid of him altogether)...

it all hits right at my heart.

And so, this painting became... ALWAYS A REFLECTION.