Matchless Tattoo

Here's a wider shot of this piece I've been working on lately, seen here in our "studio", aka the living room. Some paintings are about a message, some tell a story, or invoke a mood. But sometimes a painting is just a vision that must be made real. For weeks I had a recurring image in my head of a golden skull surrounded by blue peony flowers. I could feel my hands itching to make it. I wouldn't be happy until I saw it in real life. It didn't "mean" anything, but what is art without whimsy?
As a determinist, I'm astounded by the millenia of prior causes that wound it's way through the cosmos and propelled my hand across a canvas. And that my tiny act of obsessive creativity is but one domino in an ineffably vast Rube Goldberg contraption of unknowable intent. Whew! Okay, enough of that, I feel dizzy.
Oil on canvas, 24 inches x 48 inches.