"And then the wind blew in" ©K.Dunn. While the original is sold, a print is now available of this piece.
I do not have much trouble letting go of paintings after their completion. It is part of how I make my living, but also, it is the encounter I have with layers of paint, textures and feelings while I create it, not the actual product, that make me an artist. However, there are always some that sing a bit more. Sometimes I hold those back to savor them, but this piece was painted for a show and sold right away. I have no idea who bought it since galleries currently seem to think they have the right to withhold that information from the artist, so I don't know if it sits on a mantle, or is tucked in to a closet with old sweaters. Either way, my time with it was short and my work is done.
But when I was picking one new piece to add to the online print section, I chose this one. I hadn't looked at it carefully for a long time. It is one more example of my art telling me a story I need to hear, but that story might have changed since the painting was made. Depending on what is going on around me, many of my paintings have been a map to the future, my conscious just wasn't ready for it when I made it. And while I had a donkey, and chickens, and braids, when I painted this a couple years ago, I can now see yet another one paragraph story emerging from this piece - "The wind was blowing in just as the daily performances began. She sat at the side stage, covered with a trusted creature who would not complain. The wind died down just for a second, and that is when her braids blew up to the skies out of exuberance for her current situation."
