Cosmopolitan - Finished!

This is another new piece, sold before even being finished. I've been very fortunate this year, in spite of the pandemic. Knock wood that keeps up.

This piece is actually based (loosely) on another much older piece.

This older one here was called Butterface. A play on the offensive term, yes. I'm still fascinated by the fact that impossible standards are so deeply ingrained into our culture, they've got their own lexicon. But, I thought, looking back at this old piece, I can do this in a much more empowering way. So came the redesign.

I added in things I've learned since then. One, that butterflies like alcohol. They actually enjoy getting drunk! They wait for fruit to ferment, then drink the nectar. Beautiful little bacchanalians. I learned this, of all places, on a cruise. My partner and I went off the beaten tourist path to a conservatory. I thought we'd see many different kinds of butterflies than in the conservatory more local to us (in Niagara, Ontario). We didn't, but the caregiver had all the time in the world to walk around with us and teach us factoids, and that was lovely. This is the piece I did more immediately after that trip:

This was also a while back. I look at everything from even a couple years ago with an eye at how to improve it. I don't know if it's always a good thing, but I mean, the new painting in question has received some serious love on social media, so it's not hurting!

I ALSO learned, much more recently, what flowers look like to bees and butterflies alike. Apparently they have vision closer to how flowers look under UV lighting. I highly recommend looking them up. You'll probably recognize some of the flowers I used for reference. With some colour adaptations, of course. I'm not into stealing anyone else's art.

And the name - Cosmopolitan - Not just in reference to the drink! It means worldly. I like to think that Otherworldly is worldly too.

What's next, I'm not 100% sure. Currently working on something more landscape-like. I'll share the progress on that here soon. I'm really trying to get back into the habit of blogging regularly.