Wonder

There is a look that cannot be manufactured or rehearsed — that split second between thought and feeling when something unexpected breaks through and the face tells the truth. This painting caught it.

A young woman gazes slightly upward and sideways, her expression unguarded and alive — eyes wide, lips parted, as though she has just glimpsed something extraordinary. Her spectacular halo of sculptural hair, built up in rich impasto strokes of cream, gold, and warm peach, crowns the figure with an almost regal presence. Against a deep electric cobalt blue scattered with glints of gold, her softly rendered face glows warm and luminous. The contrast between the raw, tactile texture of the hair and the smooth delicacy of the face is one of the painting’s great pleasures — two entirely different worlds held together in one extraordinary portrait.

A bold, emotionally alive work that holds any room it enters — and reminds everyone in it to keep looking at the world with open eyes.

• Original mixed media and oils on canvas
• Size: 50 × 50 cm
• Unframed, ready to hang
• Signed by the artist, Trudie Averett