After sketching, I usually hang versions up around my room to sort of kick start ideas. The sketch I show was the final version before painting, and I thought the sunlight striking the exposed back of the paper stack made it look like the outline of her face, which I had decided not to show in the sketch/painting. Just one of those serrendipitous moments in life.
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Just some random images that make me smile. Lover's note. Male painted bunting (photo). Bird of paradise (my favorite flower) (photo). The shell (Rembrandt). Crab on it's back (van Gogh). Deer's Skull with Pedernal (O'Keeffe). Calla Lily (my other favorite flower). Southwestern Painting (W. Henry). Funny thing about the two southwestern style paintings; I've always appreciated Georgia O'Keeffe, and Will Henry's surreal depiction of tumbleweed really draws me in, but the whole "southwestern" style thing makes my skin crawl. I'm sure there's some folks that like their house all done-up like that, but I find it hard to relax in that sort of space. I guess it just gives me an unpleasant response. To me it looks thrown-together in a bad way, patterns always clash, colors are always pastel/muted to a degree that it's as if John Wayne and Sears had a love child and the house decor is the result. Funny peeve right?