Little Peacock

In a land of bright color and impossible dreams, where everything could be bought and sold for a price, friendship was a rare bird. Little Peacock had never tasted the world outside of her family's palace, but she traveled in daydreams and through the words of the storytellers. When she was just a child, she acquired her name when a rich (and famously dangerous) merchant visiting her family brought a wonderful gift: a tiny peacock, one that fit in the palm of her hand and never grew any larger. Little Peacock grew, but her bird remained precious and small, and she spent all of her short life with her little friend. She did not know that one day she and her bird would become a story and travel the world to places she had never reached.

--
I was telling ~Villianesse about the new piece I was starting, and she seemed to think it was for a friend of mine. I'm not sure if earlier I had given her the impression that it was for this friend, or if I had said I was planning to make a picture for that friend, but it hadn't actually occurred to me. I don't think I really had any plans to make anything for that particular friend, not for any particular reason, but just that the idea I had for this piece wasn't for her... At that point I began to realize what I was going to do and so I agreed that it was for my other friend. My plan really solidified when I mentioned that this one featured peacocks, and I found out that ~Villianesse loved peacocks. So then I realized...well...I'll just have to be sneaky and see if I can keep fooling her since she's such a darn clever one. I'll tell ~Villianesse that it's for one friend, but secretly it'll be for her instead... And so I did.

Dear Tiffany, I am sorry I lied to you, but this is not for anyone but you. Friendship is a rare bird and I'm glad one of those rare birds flew to me.

The model in this picture is me. I don't really want to use myself much in my art, but when I first hatched the concept of a girl holding a tiny peacock with a mysterious feel to it, I realized there was no way I was going to find the right stock in the right pose with the right tone unless I did it myself. So there I was, with two red silk pillowcases wrapped around my face trying to take pictures of myself...

All other stock free for use from sxc.hu and morguefile.com.