The Dryad Tree

My style is typically light and joyful - certainly anything but dark and macabre. So it was strange when this idea found its way into my head. This painting had to be made - once it got a hold of me it consumed me until it was finished.
the finished painting took over 32 hours to create and had over 111 layers! This was a monster of a project, and one that I dearly loved creating.
I made a poem that goes with the painting:

We are all together,
won't you join us in the dryad tree
we are all together
joy and sorrow, pain and harmony.

Life and death, they linger here.
Now it's time to make your choice.
Join us or be lost; alone.
Add yours to our collective voice.

As the rapture dawns on us,
take a chance and take my hand.
In this tree of life and death,
here we will forever stand.

Love and joy and lust and hate;
singing voices linger here.
Come with me and seal your fate,
we are all together here.

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A HUGE thanks to all of the amazing stocks that contributed to this piece:

Curling vine reference: [link]
Dark lightning overlay (for color primarily) [link]

[link] and [link] face #2
[link] and [link] - incredible statuesque poses. The model is Mary Celeste ([link] and photographer is Marcus Ranum.
[link] - great spine references
[link] - Branch on the right
[link] - screaming face #1[link] - the most perfect torso ; [link] - arm reference ; [link] - absolutely gorgeous model ( Carly Champagne ); [link] - main model pose ; [link] lying on the left side ; [link] ; [link] upside-down; [link] eerie and perfect scream
[link] -another incredible scream used int he center of the tree by the main model
[link] - laughing
[link] - model up top, part of the tree
[link] -- the absolutely sensational, inspirational tree
[link] - wonderful hand poses
[link] - wonderful crack brushes
[link] - the photo that originally inspired me. I was going to center the entire painting around this one pose, but only ended up using her head. Still, without this photo I never would have gotten my gears turning, so it was an absolutely crucial part of this piece.
[link] - absolutely incredible back shot. Used twice!
and [link] - the background that I never thought would work, but ended up being absolutely perfect.

Fun fact: i also added my face and various body parts to this image.
I hope I didn't miss anyone, I believe that everything else is my own paintings, brushes, and resources.

Thanks so much for looking!