Battered Painting

I initially drew this in pencil as practice and a sort of sketch. I originally wanted to either draw a hand on her shoulder or a gun pointed from behind. But I couldn't decide on either and decided to add color with the notion that I would add something menacing later. So because I began painting with poor quality paint, I got frustrated and took a break to get wine and ended up on the phone. I discussed a friend in recovery who had a meth addiction, and when I went back to painting I impulsively added a red streak under her nose as if she were OD'ing. Then I decided to add the blue streaks in her neck to infer abuse of some sort. I liked that she retained this crisp, beautiful quality juxtaposed against a subtle battered inference that could be self-inflicted or victimized by others. The fact that the subject is a close-up but you can't see her eyes gives it an anonymous yet personal feel. And the facial features and hair could be of many different races or ethnicities. It speaks to the notion that addiction nor abuse discriminates.