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I wanted to do something a little different from my standard entry into the SWA Signature show. It's the biggest show of the year with huge dollar awards given to the top paintings in each category. I usually enter a painting no larger than 16X20 but this year I'm going big.

I saw this belly dancer at the Renaissance Festival I attended last fall and wanted to paint her body in motion on stage. There was this dark figure in the background that leant some mystery to the scene and so a painting idea was created.

Here is the drawing of the painting on a 36X48 canvas. 

and here's a close up of the belly dancer:

Here is the painting after an afternoon of painting:

and here is the painting as it stands right now:

The rug she is standing on is a beautiful crimson red and the tiles behind here are beautiful blues and teals. 

I want to keep the character with the mandolin in the shadows but I will work on his features a little more. I also want to kick up the colors in the dancer more and try to glaze the background colors so they don't fight for importance against her.

We'll see if the final painting turns out for the SWA Signature exhibit! :)

hmmmmmmmmm..........

I may end up changing my mind about what to enter.

Now I'm thinking about this piece:

What do you think?

Laurie 

and after all that.....here is the painting I entered AND I'M GLAD....I won FIRST PLACE - OILS Category for the Signature SWA show!!!

It is called: A Summer, Long Long Ago.

Thank you!