"OUROBOROS" New Painting!

Hi everyone!

"Ouroboros" is finished!

I painted this piece in acrylics, on a piece of Arches Cold Press watercolour paper, my last of my 638gsm (300lb) pad. 

I will put together a Process PDF of the whole painting process, and I also filmed it all so will have a timelapse up with the PDF. 

In the meantime, here are a few work in progress shots. 

As you can see, I modified the head of the snake in the final sketch, as the angle of it in the picture of the left never quite sat right with me, and didn't feel like that would be a natural position for a striking snake. 

I liked the idea of the snake's head being tilted to embrace the neck in a gesture reminiscent of a kiss, but that simply would not happen naturally, so I corrected it in the final piece. And although it isn't quite as poetic in my eyes, it feels much better that way realism wise.

I experimented with the style of the hair in this piece, as hair is still something I ma fairly unfamiliar with, and I haven't found a style choice for it yet. I will go into more detail about this in the Process PDF. 

This concept really speaks to me on a personal level. 

I love the juxtaposition of feelings that the image projects, and I am glad I took the time to convert it into a more finished piece.
This painting is a play on the relationship between pleasure and pain, not in a carnal way, but in more of a spiritual and psychological perspective.

I like creating pieces that are ambiguous in meaning even to me, and where I can ponder for a while about what my mind was trying to express.
I find that we can all have chaotic and tumultuous relationships to ourselves, and what makes us happy or distraught, and most of the things we experience can be found on the spectrum between those 2 extremes. 

What does this piece wake in you? Do you find yourself feeling a certain way about it?
I would love to know how you interpret the painting, if you feel comfortable sharing!

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This piece will complete the $20 and $35 reward packages, which I will be dropping off at the post office today or tomorrow, depending on how quickly I manage to package everything. 

Thank you so much for your patience with all this!

I hope you will like this piece, as it was tremendous fun for me to paint, and the imagery is close to my heart. 

I hope you are all well, 

Take good care of yourselves, 

See you soon, M<3