Canvas Redo...Twice

Last year I did this canvas:

It's kind of a hot mess.  Last weekend I decided to paint it over and try again.

This is as far as I got last weekend.  I knew something was off, but I wasn't quite sure what.

Then last Tuesday night I decided it was the jaw.  And the shoulder was too far away.  And I didn't like the mouth.  And the right eye was weird and droopy.  And she was just creepy and without a story.  So I set out on another re-do.  The first step was cleaning up all my mistakes - correcting the proportions and the features.

And then something new just started to emerge.

And here's the final (for now) version:

I'm calling it "On Her Wedding Day."  I kind of like the metaphor of the strips of paper (like bars on a cage or something) underneath the painting of a bride.  Here's a close-up where you can really see the texture of the paper underneath:

I'm trying to ignore the fact that she looks vaguely like Kim Kardashian.  I think it's something about the pouty mouth and the severe brows.  Regardless, she looks hopeful to me.  And yet I feel like the painting hints at the possibility of a sinister future.  The scroll work in the back -- like a wrought iron gate.  A passage into something.  But also a wall.  And her blueness -- is she a ghost?  

Here's what I wrote on the original canvas: "Even though he had broken her heart and shattered her trust, she still believed in happily ever after.  She still had hope."  Interestingly, I think that story still works with this new figure.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the process!

Thanks for stopping by!