"My Lady Comes Forth"

"My Lady Comes Forth"
Watercolor, photography, digital tools

Lately, I've been feeling the urge to bring people, especially women, back into my creative life. Portraits, half length, full length figures, it does not matter as long as they surface onto paper. The winds howl outside my window, shaking and rattling my environment and I pull my afghan more tightly around me.

The woman above mimics me in some ways, seeking refuge as well from the oncoming winter, looking for shelter in a nearby cave. Yes, the purple bluish area that envelopes the lady above was originally going to be a place she could protect herself in. Shielding herself from the elements of nature and also allowing necessary time to go within herself to seek new aspects of who she might be. But does she really need to do this? Perhaps instead she is emerging from her isolation. Maybe that is really a cloak around her that she will use as adornment as she mingles with life. Or maybe that purple that merges into her earthly body is her aura, her spiritual essence shining around her for all to see. The possibilities are endless and her dreamy face reflects this. Speaking of her face, I have always had a fascination with the renaissance and medieval historical time periods. When I was a teenager, I'd check out many library books dealing with that "romantic" time period and escape from my real world. And now, years later, it seems my artist self wants to incorporate that influence, via images and/or symbolism, into new pieces. I allow this to happen, going with the flow, not resisting. The background was originally a photo of some fall flowers and leaves I saw lying around somewhere. Yes, the autumn influence is seeping into my inner creative core as well. There seemed a bit too much green in the shrubbery, so I toned that color down to give more subtle contrast to the foreground image.

So I present My Lady here. One last thought. I often see little ghostly figures staring at me when I create something. My Lady might be one of them, but she wanted to be seen so she is bigger than most of the others that seemed to want to remain hidden. Perhaps this is a good thing on my part.Maybe aspects of myself, like My Lady, are springing forth from deep chambers. All I know is that my imagination continues to be sparked. Thank you, My Lady. Welcome to my time period, and please, show me the way!