"Rajani"

I want to share my most recent painting I completed last week, titled "Rajani."  It's nice to have this blog because I can't really share the context/background for this piece in an online gallery like I want to.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been going through my National Geographic magazines that my awesome Grandma has ordered for me.  I've been looking at a broad range of pictures...landscapes, portraits, animals.
After looking endlessly I came across this article "Too Young to Wed."

Yeah the article was sad, girls as young as 5 were getting married off illegally; but it wasn't the article that caught my attention; it was Rajani's face.

After seeing her I knew I had to challenge myself with her portrait.  Of course I was scared cause I have never painted a still life or portrait but I'm glad I chose Rajini as my first.  The caption in NatGeo read "Long after midnight, five-year-old Rajani is roused from sleep and carried by her uncle to her wedding.  Child marriage is illegal in India, so ceremonies are often held in the wee hours of morning it becomes a secret the whole village keeps, explained one farmer." (June 2011)

Here are some progressive pictures...

"Rajani"
16x20 Acrylic on Canvas
$150