Illustration Friday... smitten

Okay... this one is a total departure from what I usually paint.

When I saw that this week's theme was 'smitten' I was immediately a tad uncomfortable.

Websters defines smitten as "strongly and suddenly affected". When I read that definition I was instantly hurled back in time to a place of being 'smitten'. And then I began to reflect on what that truly entails. Love struck, infatuated, hormonal, surreal...

It is rose colored glasses and feelings that are magnified about 1000%... the sun shines brighter, the birds sing louder, even the air seems to dance upon your skin in celebration of all the wonderful things you are experiencing due to 'Love'. You want to shout from the rooftops and dance in the streets... and in your heart you pray that it will last forever.

So with respect to all that being 'smitten' induces in us I am offering up "The many colors of a heart gone wild".

Does she look smitten to you? She surely looks smitten to me... and dreamy, and love struck, and swept away to a place where she prays she may never return from.

I wanted to depict all of the roller coaster emotions of love with color.

This piece measures 8x10 and was done in watercolor, pastel, and neocolorII.

And it is my wish that we all forever remain 'smitten'.

Until next time...