Thoughtful Tuesday - The Maid

I skipped a week. On the plus side, I finished a painting I'm really excited about. However, I'm not ready to post it. I am ready to talk about the next piece in my 2015-2016 gallery: The Maid. Sometime in early 2015 I was really inspired by a song by the band Leaves' Eyes titled "Maid of Lorraine" - aka, Joan of Arc.

At first, I wanted to do a traditional burning at the stake, but chose not to. Instead, I decided Joan should would be 'burned' by grass instead of flames. Further, the small sparks and ash would be flowers and petals floating away. I also wanted to keep her image ghostly and undefined. This is not my favorite of my pieces last year, however, looking back on it a year later, I do see joy in it.

I could have taken a very dark route with this piece, but I decided, Joan is not dead - she's living. She didn't die at the stake, she became immortal. This is how I magically took this historical and religious figure, and connected her to my usual imagery of plants, life, and death. Fine. That's not very magical.

What's also not magical is me neglecting to blog last week, and I had to force myself to type this post. Sigh. There. I did it. I didn't proofread. I will promise to upload two or three new, finished pieces next week, and see a lil bit of what I'm working on next.