Coat of lies

You've got a very good feel to this painting, but I've always felt that there is a fundamental flaw with an image if you can't decipher the artist's message without text or some kind of explanation. That said, I think it rates an overall 3.5 / 5, because the execution is there--but the meaning is not.

OK so let's get to the meat and potatoes here. In reading your commentary, it seems like what you're trying to say is that people ignore things they shouldn't ignore. We can see that the subject's eyes are covered and she is holding her hands over her ears, that much reads clearly as a see/hear/speak no evil reference, but why is the paint white? If the paint is white because the subject is being bombarded or covered with 'white' lies, then the lies (by definition of the expression white lie) are supposed to be harmless, defeating what I understand your impression to be. Wouldn't a better choice be black--to indicate the effect the lies have on the subject, choking them perhaps?

Regarding the head and safe/vault, I think the image is very distinct but doesn't express what the subject is thinking or feeling. If the subject is locking the thoughts away, or ignoring them, then there should be some action happening here--and I'm not really sure what would be most appropriate. Perhaps the 'door' of the safe is slightly ajar, as if it were closing or opening? Furthermore the subject's head is depicted as a empty vessel, which doesn't seem to have any particular relevance to the overall portrayal. Again, I think if you change the color of the dipping 'paint' or 'lies' etc. to a color other than white, I think you open up a lot of possibilities--including the possibility that the paint is actually overflowing from the inside, which might create a big impact when tied to your political statement, especially if you mix two different colors to represent the conflict from within mixing with the external conflicts from others. Something to think about.

In regard to the texture/perspective lines I find them to mess with the read of the eye for this painting, and I would recommend removing them or incorporating them more into the flow of the image.

Lastly, the red at the top of the painting is distracting and leading the eye away from the center (even more than the perspective lines). Right now the read of the eye begins at either the lips or the top of the page, and than to the other location of red, followed by a confusing roam of the arms, general pose, etc.. You want to control this more, and if you are trying to get the eye to read from the top of the painting down, then make the subject's lips another color other than red (or reduce the saturation to say, a pinkish color) and darken the fringes of the painting so that the red becomes less saturated towards the edge of the page, forcing the eye down rather than up--which I think it what you were trying to achieve anyway. I know everyone wants sexy red lips, and if you can't bring yourself to change that, then remove the red from the top of the page and focus on a circular or expanding box eye read from the center.

Hope you don't think I'm too harsh on what is, despite everything I've said, a very well executed piece. Keep up the good work.