1

As I often do, I began this painting by layering several photos on top of each other. You can see a Getty Images watermark, a wooden floor, staircase banisters and coral, all of which contribute to the final image. I didn't have any plan, I just started drawing a pretty girl, based on the existing colors.

2

I've started fleshing out the background... really just creating an abstract composition out of values and color. You can see the beginnings of a dress design and an idea of putting buildings in the background. You can see the palette is still derived from the original photos.

3

I've added more compositional bits, and extended the canvas. At this point I want to turn the orange blobs into leaves, to go with the new branch elements. I adjusted her eye to look less sullen than sultry. I was working on this at the same time as Salene, I thought it was neat that I had white candles in that picture, and black candles in this one.

4

I felt the composition was too complex, too much going on. I also decided I wanted to leave the picture more abstract, retaining the beauty of the original textures instead of trying to turn them into fabric patterns or whatever. The dress has evolved a bit further.

5

Here is the final version. I wanted the orange blobs to be something other than fish because I use them all the time, but they just worked too well. I quite like that there's one silver fish. Unlike previous works I tried not to over-work things, trying to preserve the beauty and rawness of the original textures.

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