Freedom (Original Acrylic Painting by Kim Testone)

"Freedom," acrylic on round panel, 6" diameter. Unframed, ready to hang. Based on a real-life monarch butterfly sugar cookie that I baked and decorated and placed on a swoop of frosting. 

This piece is painting in the trompe l'oeil style, meaning that the painting is virtually flat, but painted in a way that looks amazingly three-dimensional and highly realistic in its details. 

"Freedom" is painted in contrast to the stoic and scientific "pinned" butterfly, in which butterflies are mounted for preservation, study or collectability. In "Freedom," the monarch butterfly is turn, juxtaposed against the swoop of blue frosting, which in intended to imply wind and motion. The whimsical cookie takes flight, ready to leave the painting panel. Monarch butterflies in particular are recognized for their strength, resilience and transformation, among many other positive and inspirational traits, making "Freedom" both a colorful bit of joy and an uplifting source of the ability in all of us to pick ourselves up, survive and find a better path. 

Watch the painting process for "Freedom" on my TikTok here.

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