Wither

*6"x18"

*Watercolor, Gouache, Ink

*Rives BFK paper

This is the completed version of my earlier WIP (several posts ago). I started this image nearly a year ago and set it aside after about 2 hours of work. It wasn't until recently I decided to finish it. I was struggling with completely conceptualizing it when I began and wanted to sit with it before jumping full force into it. Suffice it to say that after many more paintings and drawings I was inspired to complete this one and I am very glad I did. It is one of my favorite paintings I've ever done and am thrilled with how it turned out.

Conceptually, my purpose for painting this one was to show that physical beauty is temporary at best. Our culture is constantly telling us how to look and often at the expense of our character. We are so focused on looking "right" that we begin to judge others based on our own insecurities. This painting is all about the eventual death of our physical beauty. We all grow old. We all get wrinkly. We all sag and most of us will get fat.

And that is perfectly ok.

If we spend all of our time obsessing about our physical appearance and forsake our inner being, the one we will never lose no matter how old we get, we are truly and unavoidably ugly. Hopefully you can see that in this work of mine.