More details added a year later.
And two more I did yesterday, working out exactly how I wanted it to look.
At first it was just a commentary on the feeling of those times when whatever you do only seems make your own situation worse: you know, the kind of "open mouth insert foot" incidents, or ones of more serious nature refered to as "digging your own grave". Thus the lizard is being strangled by his own tail. But then something compelled me to add the bell jar, a suffocation from things beyond your control. I suppose this painting reflects the ultimate helpless feeling.
It was only later, an hour into painting the rough that I realized this also ties in nicely to Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar.
My two-year-old saw the last sketch. She said "open! open, let him out!" She knew exactly what was going on with that poor lizard, he was trapped. I flipped back to the earlier sketch where it's not so obvious to her that he's enclosed and she looked relieved: "he out!" But then she pointed to the last drawing again: "now open dis one!" It made me laugh! Not too much, though, because she was fairly concerned at the lizard's predicament.
For the moment, I am working in oils again. This is a smaller painting (for me), being only 12 x 16". It feels quite different to have the pervasive smell of oil paint and linseed in our small rooms instead of constantly sneezing pastel dust! I really ought to open some windows, but the weather has taken a sudden plunge into winter's cold.
See the next stage here.
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