Candlelight and Ribbons - A Figurative Oil Painting by Marian Fortunati

Candlelight and Ribbons © Marian Fortunati 8"x10" Oil on Canvas Panel
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Suddenly I realized that the deadline for an exhibition I wanted to enter is fast approaching!   I have been totally immersed in thoughts of my Channel Islands painting adventure.  I've even painted one new painting of Santa Rosa since the trip and have planned a few more but WAIT!!  These paintings will definitely NOT fit in with the theme of the upcoming show!!!   --- Even if the jurors fudge and decide to loosely interpret the theme... paintings of the islands just won't fly.

Well... I thought about the paintings in "my body of work".   I have LOTS of paintings, mind you... but not many... no matter how loosely I imagined the theme, would do.   I had to paint.   I hate painting FOR a show.   I really should always paint for me and then see what fits.   It's more fun and usually turns out better.   Additionally all of the regular things of life have piled up ... trying to get my 11-year-old off to a good start in middle school, celebrating Dad's birthday and all the while my wonderful supportive husband is out-of-town!

I remembered a few themed shows at a gallery that invited me to show my work and how well that ended up.  Painting for those shows really stretched me.   I painted scenes (like urban landscapes) I usually don't paint and I enjoyed exploring and trying something a bit different.   So...  I've been painting and painting!!!   I've painted six paintings since it suddenly dawned on me that I was running out of time.  (Actually one still needs some work... but I've got most of tonight and tomorrow to finish it up.   Ten entries can be submitted.   I have about three in my "files" which might also fit.  That's enough.   Surely the jurors will be able to find one or two that are acceptable!   .... (I hope.)

The theme is "Winter's Light", but I really didn't want to paint lots of snow pictures.  Even though there's not a lot of snow here in Southern California ... (at least nearby)....  I figured everyone would be painting mountains  and or snow-covered mountains.   I wanted to do

	Boo!

something a bit different with some of my submissions, so I thought about light...   We have seasons in SoCal...   They're just not like seasons in most of the rest of the USA.

I started this painting on a small panel that was already toned black.  I had purchased it a while back and thought it might be an interesting experiment.   As the painting progressed, it began to look more like a Halloween painting than one of winter or light but I persevered.   I thought the candlelight added a magical aspect to this girl's pretty face.   I played with texture and color a bit... using purple, burnt sienna, cad red and alizarin to create skin and hair.   I so enjoy playing!

Although photographing this dark painting was problematic... I decided I like it.  Hopefully the juror will too.

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