"Enlightenment"

She has awoken to discover that a forest grew around her while she slept. As a child I had a Disney comic of Goofy as Rip Van Winkle, I took the story as literal truth, and I think stories are always more powerful that way. Another favorite was of course “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.

The image began with a series of sketches in my sketchbook, in which I attempted to push certain distortions far past physical possibility, but not past where the viewer would still accept it as a figure. The result was this bizarre emotion. As a friend mentioned she looks like she’s been beamed from another planet.  I became interested in the look of speed or aerodynamics in the shapes, and using everything including hair and background elements to push toward the effect of fast movement in complete stillness.

One of the original concept sketches.