There was once a young woman. She lived in a world gone drab and dead with its own repetetive nature, drowned in its own material ways. She would look at the world around her, and wonder where the life and beauty in her people had gone. Standing alone at the end of every day, she would gaze in wonder at the spectacle of mother nature's cinematic visions of colour as the clouds burned bright with luminous shades of reds and oranges, slashed and smudged across rich blues and turquoises. She would hear the simple song, a wondrous harmony of birds and rustling of trees and leaves, and she would look at the people passing her by in everyday life and puzzle over why their hearts were not filled with the same awe, why their faces were a grey reflection of the concrete and metal jails they condemned themselves to.
The young woman grew older. And with her age, she felt the burden of mortal life weighing her soul down until she too trudged with the masses, part of the same faceless grey, doing the same usless nothing everyday. Only once in a while, would she remember to look up to the sky and see its wonder, and her heart fluttered, seeing the birds diving and swooping in their freedom, dancing in the playful breeze.

Eventually, the woman's mortal life came to and end. Her soul floated free, released of it's morbid, fleshed shackles, and she finally breathed, joining the birds in their fanciful flight. She climbed the graceful peaks of the clouds, and soared far above the earth that had imprisoned her for so long. The birds felt her joy and flocked to her, their calls like a symphony to her ears. She cradled them to her, shared her spirit with them, and they called back with delight. For here was one soul who truly understood them, whose bright essence they had seen so far below, so many years ago. The woman flew for as long as her heart desired, and eventually she came to rest upon the seat of a large cloud. As she lifted her hands to her face, she felt the smooth contours of the wind gracing her soul, taken form in a beautiful mask and glittering wings of light. The birds cried with pleasure, for she was one of them, a playmate of the breeze.

She looked down from her lofty perch, back down at the grey world she had once inhabited. A flat lifeless thing it seemed to her now, but the birds called to her to look closer. So she did. And in that vast expanse of grey, a twinkle caught her eye and she gasped with happiness. It was so small, but the nothingness around it only served to heighten it's beauty. For she knew what she had seen was the colour of a soul, a being who had looked up to the sky and felt its powerful allure and marvelled at its display. So she called her birds to her in joy and swept to the earth, gusting by that bright speck of light.

And in the beauty of a burning sunset, another young being felt his soul soar with the colours of the wind.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
The story was floating round my head as I was painting this, so I thought I would share. This piece is quite revealing as to what kind of person I am, as I intended it to be a portrait of my screen namesake, Zephyri, a play on the word zephyr, or breeze. I'd originally intended that it would be quite dark and stormy, but lo and behold, something much more uplifting and bright seems to have come of it, and I have simply painted as I have felt. Odd...

Anyhoo.. my thanks to all of those who helped me out with the WIP stages of this painting, over in the Anatomy Forums on CGTalk in OFDW 11, and thanks to Hong Ly, whose gorgeous reference material made this picture possible.
Time taken, in total, around 30-40 hours, done in photoshop.