At the time of this painting a dear friend had died unexpectedly. She was a member of my beloved Colorado belly dance group, EveryBelly Dancers,  so I set up the composition to be dark, dramatic, and exotic with lots of beautiful folds in the cloth. The whole time I was painting it I was thinking about how much I missed my friend. 

 

I enjoyed the shiny surface of the tea pot but my favorite part was figuring out all the folds and shadows in the cloth. 

 

I named this one "Three Wishes" after the genie in a bottle story. My three wishes would be that my friend was still alive, that I could see her again, and that we could dance together.