So here I stand, with the transformed painting mentioned in my last blog, and either I have another failure or a success. I admit, I’m a little nervous. I get nervous easily! Grin.

I fully accept that every painting is not necessarily a masterpiece, nor would I want it to be. If they were, I wouldn’t have a challenge. I like to see my skills growing. I came across a quote some time ago about if something was still growing, you knew it was still alive — I’ll blog on that sometime in the future I’m sure.

Okay, here it is: Raising a Buck transformed into a new painting…

The flowers are gone and a more fall atmosphere has claimed the stage. The deer is basically the same through I did brighten him a bit more. The biggest change is the key hanging from his antlers.

A key?

Yes, you see that golden key there. Ah, yes, there’s a story.

I sat for days looking at this painting, wondering what I could do to this painting. I knew I had to do something to make it my own, something with my fantasy style to finish the transformation. It was right there, so close…

So elusive!

I had an idea for something mysterious, but when I sketched it in with charcoal on the canvas, I didn’t like it. It didn’t feel right.

Then I thought about a key, similar to the ones I’ve been painting recently with the vines, which would hang from his antlers.

Before I even got it painted on, I realized that this key held more symbolism than I had originally thought. It feels like so many people in our world today are looking for the golden key to make everything perfect in their life. If only they had the time to figure out what they need to do, or figure out who to be with, or figure out how to have more time. We feel as if something special is locked away from us. We just need to find the key and then everything will be wonderful and fixed.

The reality is that “our key” is always right there beside us. We don’t have to go looking very far. Many gurus even say that we never have to look outside of ourselves for our answer, that what we need is already inside us. I don’t disagree. But this deer is symbolic of how we look around and the answer is forever elusive. We can feel it, maybe even catch a glimmer of it, but can we grasp it?

So, for what it’s worth, my painting transformed and I found a new piece of myself within. I hope you like the change too.