Look at me, I will never pass for perfect bride.
Or a perfect daughter.
Can it be I'm not meant to play this part?
Now I see that if I were truly to be myself,
I would break my family's heart.

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me.
Why is my reflection someone I don't know
Somehow I cannot hide who I am,
Though I've tried.
When will my reflection show,
Who I am inside.
from Disney "Mulan"

Close up: [link]

This is for funkiest butterfly - for catching my 15000 pageview (I am working on that mermaid too.. At least for month and still.. not far)

Also for reflection competition.
EDIT: Got first place

She is trapped Why? First, read her story down. But I can say more about the elements I wanted to use to create that emotion - first the color of her clothes. Not black but red, bordeaux, maybe even violet. It is about blood but also same time as royality. She is queen, after all. Those strings. She is the one who holds them, to control them.. but by doing this, she is also made herself into those strings, trapped herself. The sweet revenge on the "system" - play and be played, no way to get away from the web. She is in the web, put herself into that positsion, lost and trapped. She is playing to win that bloody game but there is no way out. Those waterdrops - they are the tears she would cry if there just would be little less bride and she could understand how hopelessly she is lost. And her reflection.. innocent and still not spoiled, but she was trapped even then.. her birth and royal blood, the truth that she is a woman.. her strong spirit.. all of them are trapped her even more and more, attached herself to the dark waters what reflect her dark acts

A song I remember from time when I was very young. I loved Mulan, still love. The great story with fantastic characters. This work is also inspired from another great story what has a great importance to me like "Mulan". The inspiration started when I saw that model and that fantastic pose. From that moment I have the title and all other things came but not quick. I have been working on it more than a week. No little bit less. I spent two evenings to find the proper skirt and I am so happy with it. So Thursday was hard work and today was the most of it. A lot of hours + 72 layers. I just manage it.

But I was going to write about what that work represents for me. She is Cersei Lannister, inspired by George R.R. Martin's books "Song of Ice and Fire". She is the "evil" queen, defenetly not that kind of character many people would like to create and to be honest, I mostly hate her in that book as she just managed to do so much things that mess up "good" chars plans. But when I saw that model stock, she in some weird reason remind me Cersei as I have imagined her and I started to though about her and then the reflection idea came. She is forced to play the role she is in. She said the most amazing sentence in those books: "In game of thrones you win or you will die!" She has no other change if she wants to stay alive. All her evil acts, most of them are done just for protect herself and her love. She will never be the girl she imagined in childhood. Even if she is so evil, conspiring, betraying and only doing thins for her self, past she was like every other little girls - dreaming about white prince in horse, becoming queen of the kingdom, doing good for people, living in fairytale. Her fairytale have turned into hell even if she have almost filled most of her dreams. She has her shiny prince but with one problem - he is her brother. Her family will never accept it but she loves his brother and he loves him. They are whole only when they are together, is said. But for so long, she has suffered, as her father have kept them apart and there is no way she can say that to his father as that would brake his heart and family's pride. And that's why she did ended up as queen of the kingdom, married with the man she never loved, forced to do it as his father said it, but never becoming perfect pride, never being who is father hoped she would be. Living in her dreams what have turned into hell, made her suffer. But I think if she would look into mirror and she her own reflection, she would wander - what have happened, who she have became. Why she still sees that innocent smile and that naive girl with big dreams? Somewhere inside all that childish and goodness have survived, she have just buried it all to play that game of thrones, to plot against her rivals in order to survive...

And for the work: I did quite much painting by myself and I am proud of it. About reflecting girl's hair, totally. I managed it, finally. And that web with watertrops. Those trops look fantastic. I used that girl reflecting on my work Cracked Mirror of Broken Dreams and here also - representing innocent childhood what has gone. That stock just has that kind of special look for me.

And many thanks for =Behana for supporting and helping me. And for =FrozenStarRo too

LadyVictoire
KasStock
silber-stock
trisste-brushes
MooseyFate-Stock
mgdeath5
miss69-stock
Endofthedilm
+ much painting (and I managed to paint reflections her totally by myself )