{ The Winter } ~ of our Discontent

"Leaning out, her hair flew this way and that. Why not? she thought, looking into the night. She stepped onto the ledge, closed the window, and walked. At the roof’s edge she sat, in snow falling, in wind, in darkness. Sitting here without him is the start of my life, she thought, the start of goodbye."  So ponders Rachel in Victor Cellarius's story "A Calling" which was published in CMAJ for their Holiday Issue.
This was a real fun piece to illustrate.
I always enjoy doing these illustrations for CMA because they force me to capture a mood and tell story in images.
I opted to show Rachel, the protagonist, blowing snow out of her cupped hands as a metaphor for release.
A digital painting, I remember the face in particular was inspired by a plaster bust that showed the muscles of the face which I had just recently purchased for my teaching.  Usually I use photo reference, but in this particular case I painted from the 'inner eye' and let the features /forms develop as I painted.