Lucy Fry Instagram – Here is other side! 🌞🌛 I’ve loved how posting this painting has brought up the memories of all the friends who have been there with me in its many stages. Sometimes even hanging out and chatting while I was painting. It feels communal, and i had forgotten about the warmth of that until I shared it this week. In a lot of ways, it was scary and lonely to start this painting. I was 22, and I hadn’t been to any art classes then so I didn’t know anatomical drawing. But I wanted a creative way to overcome body dysmorphia and to look at myself more kindly. So I started off by measuring my proportions with a tape measure, and painting my body onto the canvas at scale. It circumvented the eye trickery. But once the outline was down, the figure came out in pale grey tones, with her eyes closed, and was unintentionally corpse like. And then I found myself painting weeds growing out of her stomach, everywhere, taking over the whole canvas. It was easier to paint weeds than to really look. I was very frustrated and the canvas loomed in dusty corners for years. I was 26 when I finally opened her eyes and painted warm color into her cheeks and flesh. It took another few years to figure out her context, to give her feet grounding and her hands flowers. A sun and a moon. A place to be. I love that sharing it now has brought the warmth of community around this process into focus. Especially all the friends who were there with me in the awkward phases. I love you! It’s helped this painting come to a place where I feel the love in it. Thank you all for being so encouraging about the creative process! 💛