More Additions to My Family Tree

I'm nearly finished with the 3-D painting I'm calling My Family Tree! I have invested months of my life in it, and yet it still feels kind of strange to be so close to the end.

I'm including in this painting my first self-portrait (that includes my face) in more than 20 years.

This small painting is on a disk hidden behind a door among the branches of the actual tree that fills the center of the painting.  I'm wearing the mended heart necklace by artist Mirinda Kossoff that is helping me heal from several losses I suffered during the time I have been creating this painting.  (You can see more of Mirinda's art here!)

Other new additions include this Blue Poison Dart Frog hiding sweetly in a drawer at the bottom of the painting:

 and this iguana balancing on a shelf. (And, if you are wondering why she looks beaded, it's because she is!)

I'm thinking of exhibiting this painting in a special show at FRANK in Chapel Hill in the spring of 2011, so I may have to keep the real thing hidden for a few more months, but I hope to have the finished piece photographed within a week and look forward to sharing the images with you here as soon as I have them.