evolution of a painting

Remember this painting? The one I decided to change up? 

I thought I'd share some photos of its evolution....

So I flipped it up-side down and went after this lotus flower idea that popped in my head. I had fun layering on some quinacridone red fluid paint and just loved the effects of dragging it down the canvas. Again, at this point I got a little stuck and had to set it aside for awhile. I didn't know what direction to head next until I saw a profile of a woman. She's on the right hand side in the top mountain edge, where the turquoise and brown meet . Do you see her?

I started to define her and it was like moves just kept happening one right after the other from this point on. I really got into a flow and love how things evolved. A circle became a moon (I've been painting a lot of those lately...hmmmm) and my stack of rocks changed some. The lotus grew roots and I kept my line of metallic dots from the original painting.

So hear it is, the final painting. I thought about calling it "Mountain Song," since my female figure really drove this piece towards its finale. But I decided on "Lotus Rain" instead.

Lotus Rain

18x24 acrylic on canvas

available here

Hear are a couple close-ups in some areas:

I etched the word 'believe' in the sky above the lotus. I love how delicate it is and you really have to be close to see it.

I really struggled at points in this painting because I wanted it to be more ME. And I think the frustration and layers upon layers paid off, because this feels right, it feels like me. I think I had to dig deeper into some of my own layers to find it and release it.