hunger.

Now I am something of a vampire aficionado, having read hundreds upon hundreds of such stories over my 50 plus years of reading. I tend to approach works such as yours from the perspective of the stories they tell me as I look at them. In this case, your expression conveys a lot. First, there is the "what have I done?" realization as she comes to grips with her recent (I am assuming) conversion to the vampire life. (I had ruled out zombie as she looks uninjured in that way.) Having perhaps tasted blood for the first time, the conflicting emotions of pleasure and revulsion can be imagined by the viewer. The placement of her fingers on her mouth, pushing aside her lips, is much more imaginative than some poses you see in similar pictures.

This pose, central to the success of the piece, enables the viewer to interpret the scene in their own way, making it emotionally there own. This is, in my opinion, what often separates art from the more technical portrayal of a model in a situation. One can imagine the shock of what has just happened as she recovers from her blood-drinking. The "Oh my God!" moment described above. Trying to come to grips with the reality of it all, her hand goes to her mouth as if to confirm what has happened. I am thinking that her disbelief will change to pleasure in a short while, once the blood fully enters her system. And maybe then her fangs will appear?

Speaking of fangs, I love seeing them as much as the next vampire buff, but in this case, less is definitely more. Also, her short, well-groomed nails speak of a certain normality that only adds to the horror of the work. This was an everyday young woman who is now no longer normal. Overly long fingernails, body piercings and the like would have detracted from the picture's story, and lessened its impact, IMHO.

Now back to her eyes. (I may never leave them.) One can easily see a victim becoming lost in them when she needs to feed again. Is she looking at the one who made her what she is now? Is she looking at a relative, friend or lover from whom she has just fed? The ability to have multiple interpretations means that more viewers will be able to see in this piece what they would be most emotionally gratified to see. To me, that is art.

I am sometimes inspired by such art to write a story to accompany it, and this is one of those works of art. The immediacy of her eyes demands our attentioin, her look of wonder and perhaps disbelief elicits our sympathy, and we stand, transfixed, as we wait for what will unfold in the very near future.

Regarding technique, I like the rawness of her paleness. It looks as though her freckles have not yet vanished in her transformation, and so one gets the feeling that it is not yet complete. This is in keeping with what her expression tells us. I really like it when the technique and emotional impact of the work complement each other.

Well done, my dear. Forgive my poor Spanish as I leave you with this...

Ver como ella esta ahora, mi corazón sangra. La abrazo a ella, aun sabiendo de mi desaparición final.

<img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="33" height="20" alt="" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="495" title="I surrender!"/> to her <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/k/k…" width="17" height="12" alt="" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="287" title="Kiss"/>