Searching for the Key

Though not nearly as rusty and mechanical as Clockwork Woman, the newly finished Searching for the Key [above] was painted in very much the same spirit. However, while the earlier painting was somewhat unquestioning and content to run like clockwork, this one is more pensive. I like to think that the girl in this painting is going through hundreds of intricate keys along dark corridors, trying to figure out which one unlocks meaning and adventures, tossing away the ones that led to old chambers full of cobwebs, hoping her candle will last until she finds what she is looking for. As with The Lady and the Sea Monster, there is a mysterious literary undercurrent in this painting that is giving me new ideas to wonder about. . .