Emerald (2026) Original Mixed-media Painting by Zhanar Sagidolla

Emerald is an original contemporary figurative oil painting on canvas featuring a female portrait surrounded by pale butterflies, vivid red tones, deep emerald-green hair, and luminous blue-green eyes. Created with oil paint and oil pastel, this expressive portrait explores freshness, perception, wonder, and the subtle magic of seeing something familiar in a new way.

For me, emerald is more than a color. It carries a feeling of freshness, renewal, and something slightly mysterious — a quiet sense of magic that appears when perception suddenly shifts.

In this painting, I wanted to capture that moment when something familiar begins to feel different. Sometimes nothing around us has changed, but one glance is enough to open another way of seeing.

The female figure remains calm and still, while the butterflies surrounding her introduce movement, lightness, and transformation. I see them as fragile signs of change — small reminders that perception is never completely fixed.

The deep emerald tones of the hair and eyes create a strong contrast with the warm red background. This contrast gives the painting both intensity and clarity, while the pale butterflies soften the composition and bring a sense of air and delicacy.

The face is intentionally quiet and restrained. Rather than expressing one specific emotion, I wanted the figure to remain open to interpretation. Her gaze can feel curious, reflective, distant, or hopeful depending on the state of the viewer.

Oil pastel lines and layered oil paint give the surface a direct and tactile quality. The simplified forms and clean color relationships create an almost dreamlike atmosphere, where portraiture and symbolism meet.

Emerald is about the possibility of seeing differently. Sometimes beauty does not arrive through something completely new. Sometimes it appears when we look again at what has always been there.

With its saturated red background, emerald accents, butterflies, and contemporary figurative language, the painting can become a distinctive focal point in modern, eclectic, contemporary, bohemian, or gallery-inspired interiors.

Original One-of-a-Kind Artwork
Artist: Zhanar Sagidolla
Title: Emerald
Medium: Oil and Oil Pastel on Canvas
Size: 45.5 × 61 cm / approximately 18 × 24 in
Orientation: Vertical
Substrate: Canvas

Materials used:

Oil pastel, oil on canvas

Details:

• Mixed-media painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 45.5 x 61 x 1.7cm (unframed) / 45.5 x 61cm (actual image size)
• Signed on the back
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits