Backlit

Curious about this title? I came up with ~a dozen titles for this painting as I painted over the past few days. It could be due to the fact that this is my 3rd version of this composition. The other 2 were a tad less successful. It took some preplanning to decide on the colors, composition and design before I felt comfortable with this.

This beautiful woman was walking down a rural road in Bali last year. I stopped in my tracks when I saw her/this scene from afar, whipped out my camera and wished I could stop time. I only had time to smile at her, then hope she didn't mind as I snapped away. She was obviously working, had a huge load of tropical leaves on her head. The summer sun was behind her, making it appear that this vision was from another place or time. The look on her face as she realized what I was doing will always make me grateful. She beamed. I don't know if what I saw was kindness, compassion, warmth, a friendly smile or tolerance. It doesn't matter. It was a warm, beautiful smile in a bucolic scene. That gesture and her grace warmed my heart.