After the ball

Charcoal on 300 gsm hot pressed watercolor paper. Sold framed.

22" X 29" (artwork) & 26" X 33" (framed)

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Sometimes we move the work, sometimes the work moves us. 

This charcoal piece - “After the Ball” is one such experience for me. The starting idea was simple enough : Modern Cinderella sitting on the stairs of the palace after the ball.

As I scratched marks onto the paper, her story emerged, reminding me that I had only scratched the surface of what it meant to be a modern Cinderella. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the original Cinderella fairy tale, but if I was going to update it, what would Cinderella if she had a choice? 

Would it still have been love at first dance? I didn’t think so. 

What if she left the ball because the prince was the wrong match, again? Something she put so much stock into, and well… it was for nothing. She rests on the steps, tired, disappointed, making her choice to walk away and still.. just a bit sad. There is strength in her choice, and there is melancholy wrapped up in that strength. 

As I finished making my final marks and stepped away from the piece, there was an inexplicable ache in my chest. A reminder then,  that not all choices, even when they are our own, even when they are right for us, end in happily ever after. And that’s okay.