Please read this description. I know it's long, I promise this time it's quite relevant.

This is something I've been working on since the start of the month. Don't think I put in a record number of hours on it, cause it's not quite that. It's been a very difficult month for my family, and this piece is, in a way, symbollic of those difficulties. It's a decorative image, certainly not one expressing grief and pain... mostly because I cannot expose genuine emotions on canvas. I feel it's not safe. and even just writing the truth behind various elements in the picture stirs me up quite a bit.

Significance of elements
My father died at the begining of this month... this picture is mostly about that.
>> The sketch of the girl is what I was working on that morning, before he died... He said he liked it. and that's all the central element of this image has to do with it all.
>> Warm colors... these are just symbols of the summer, of july more specifically. Dad's birthday was also in a July, so I wanted the colors to symbolize that
>> The sunset sky. In plenty of cultures, mine included, the sunset is symbolic for the end of a cycle, the end of a life... and the begining of something new. That's true in my dad's case (I believe there's something after death) but also the case of my mother and I, whose lives are changing tremendously these days.
>> The pearls and the white. Dad died from lung cancer, even though he was a non-smoker. I wondered if they use ribbons for any other diseases, like they use for breast cancer and aids, the pink and red. I looked it up and found that the colors for lung cancer are pearl gray and white. I actually drew in pearls, and colored some elements white.. some flowers, and specifically the butterflies... the girl is also wearing a sort of washed out, greyish creamish white outfit.
>> Butterflies. Here lemme just quote from wikipedia: "According to the “Butterflies” chapter in Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn, a butterfly is seen as the personification of a person's soul, whether they be living, dying, or already dead." "in Greek it means soul." "In some old cultures, butterflies also symbolize rebirth into a new life after being inside a cocoon for a period of time." So there you go They're also in an even number of 6, just like all the flowers. In Romanian culture even numbers have funerary significance. For example we never take a bouquet of 5 flowers to a grave... it's always 2 or 4 or 6... you get it
>> Gladioles. These flowers I developed a mild obsession for. They're all I take to dad's grave... other relatives buy other flowers, but for me, for some reason, only these are suitable... no idea why. They're red and white, because it's what I buy.
>> The calla lillies. These are a personal reference to my grandfather. Dad was burried next to him. In Romanian culture in general it's considered that when someone's burried next to someone their souls will spend time together, and all that. I don't believe that personally, but I thought I'd add a reference to my grandpa in the picture too. Why is this a ref to him? Well, I never met him myself, all I know of him are mom's stories about him and photos. My grandma had a very large and beautiful photo in her bedroom from her wedding day, and they both look amazingly beautiful and handsome in it. grandma had calla lillies at her wedding, and that's why I associate that flower with my grandfather
candles, coffin handles, etc... requiere no explanation, and are things that hopefully will be missed unless anyone bothers reading this description

It was my intention to make this a decorative piece, that's why I went for this rather art nouveau-ish style of lineart and border decoration. I sincerely hope that if anyone doesn't bother reading the description/if I ever get rid of it, that the symbols of death will simply NOT be easy to see.



Credits
The pose is referenced from a stock photo from ~boredlamb-stock, found here: [link]
The sky I drew with reference to a photo I took myself.
The gladioles and calla lillies have also been loosely referenced from a number of images on google, not one in particular though.
Background texture from [link]

Details and Variations
Detail shot -> [link]
Night-time view -> [link]
Lineart -> [link]