"Pride"
11 x 14"
Acrylic on canvas

Love is love.

Some paintings really are happy accidents. Having mastered monochrome fake ink washes with my acrylics, I challenged myself to do a multicolored wash. As both "Thoughts, Fly Away" and "Harbinger" featured my favorite female model S. Alessandrini, I thought I'd use my favorite male model B. Samani-Sprunk for this one. Likewise, as the previous paintings featured dark birds, I chose white doves. If the pose looks familiar, that's because it's the same one (albeit differently cropped) that I used for "Make-Shift Angel XX: Kiss the Rain." The pose, itself, began as one of the reference options for "Pray Standing III," and the quiet strength I wanted for that piece really came through here. It's rare that I start a painting without first knowing its name or what its going to be, but this is such a one, and in the end everything came together to mean something more.

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Artwork and text © Arden Ellen Nixon