with a feather in my hair

TITLE: Long Awaited Arrival With A Feather In Her Hair. The Original Painting + Prints available in my etsy shop.

i've been wondering lately why i just can't seem to paint my girl characters anymore. i had been working on this piece since the beginning of october (and that is eons for me!). i had her unfinished in my studio during open art studios, so people could see what i was working on and where i'd been stuck. 

at one time this girl had long blond braids, then she became a brunette. and then i went into that phase where i wanted my characters to blend with their environments, so she got a huge bear head! the entire background got white and it looked like she was wearing the bear to keep warm. her face was adorable, but everything else (and i wish i had photos) was misplaced. 

that's how she stayed, even while people i'd never met walked in for open art studios. until last friday when i had my photo shoot with the local, student-run magazine, CURB!

now there are a few reasons why my CURB interview is super exciting. i mean i've been lucky enough to be featured on lots and lots of lovely blogs and wrote my articles for crescendoh and somerset (for the jan/feb issue)! all HUGE things to CELEBRATE!

but this is the first time someone else will be writing the entire article (and i'm a bit nervous about that too)! AND it will appear online and in a hardcover issue at the end of november! i did the phone interview a few weeks ago and then the journalist brought a photographer over for a photo shoot! 

outdoor studio

since i often move my studio outside, i thought i'd set everything up in the backyard! we had a super fun time being barefoot AND the photos turned out totally awesome with the fall leaves falling in the background.

then afterward, i left my studio set up and started painting!

TITLE: Long Awaited Arrival With A Feather In Her Hair. The Original Painting + Prints available in my etsy shop.

i'd just told the journalist i wasn't able to paint girls right now. and then i repainted this piece! 

i completely covered the snowy white and what was left of the girl wearing the bear to keep warm. i could still see the texture of her old origami paper dress underneath though, so i worked with that, careful not to cover too much as i filled in her outfit again. then i found parts of her old face peeking through the paint and i filled in what i liked.

somehow i knew she had to have this feather in her hair. to me, she's like this glamorous, flapper girl, appearing out of nowhere, maybe up from the mist or out of the clouds. and somehow, i think that has a lot to do with me finishing this HUGE goal of having my first official interview and photo shoot for a publication. it's like this part of me that has been waiting to be born has finally come to life.

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pps. in case you missed it, i've got a GIVEAWAY for a PRINT OF YOUR CHOICE over on the lovely liv's blog choosing beauty!