Autumn Gaze

Autumn Gaze (I keep changing the title), oil on panel.  This is Cathy in the late afternoon sun at the time of year where the sun glances along the wall.  I had Cathy pose in the chair several times. I had something in mind - this was not it - but I kept snapping photos in between poses because you never know - and I immediately liked this striking pose non-pose.  To me it's the image of a mature woman, reflecting on the future, or maybe the past, but an image of inner strength and confidence and able to face whatever comes.  

This is not a final version - I fiddled with the hands some, mostly, and also the modeling of her neck area (softening), but it gets the gist across. Even more recently, I removed her leg from the view, but don't have an updated photo.

This painting is very striking in person, like lightning in a bottle, hard to plan and hard to duplicate.  Maybe I got lucky but I think this is a special painting.