What a huge part of my life this mural has become. How strange to look back at the photos I've been taking all the while, and think, that was a year ago, or that was two years ago. I've learned so much, been terrified, been disappointed, been surprised (pleasantly!) at it's success so far, been aching to get it done so I can move on to other things, and been patient because I know there is so much more work to be done, and been excited when I can catch a mental glimpse of the end of the road, of how I know it'll look in the end.
I've had lots of help all along the way, but without a certain engineer, and uncle, and parents, and boyfriend, and yes, a scruffy little naughty puppy dog to keep a sharp eye on, I wouldn't have beautiful canvases to work on nor a plan to hang them, I wouldn't have great practical advice and cheerleading, I wouldn't have a space to keep everything and in which to work in comfort and security (and for free), and I wouldn't have the discipline to keep at it, and furry company, without them. Ugh! There is still so much to do, sometimes I think it'll take me another 3 years to finish, but I have to just keep on swimming and not get hung up on the time, unforseeable obstacles, or the fact that I've taken over my parents' studio and they kinda want it back!
I haven't taken any pictures of the progress on the mural itself, I'll have to take care of that later (there is some progress, but nothing major yet). The most work done since my last mural post has been on the study. I actually thought that the stage it was in was good enough to leave as is and move back to the mural proper. Wrong! I still need a lot of experimentation to determine the coloration and process, and I have to have a finished painting with many, many progress photos to see just exactly what to do on the huge one, step by step. There is not enough paint, time, and energy to get a large section done only to realize that I've made a mistake! I have already taken the knife to the little study and scraped off failed experiments, and luckily I think I've only wasted about a quarter teaspoon of paint, and a couple hours time. I don't want to think about how much could be wasted on a 6x6 foot panel!
Without further ado, here is the study, untouched since June, in it's new setting, roughly two weeks ago. Beside it is my plan I made that day, thinking that I'd get that much done in one morning. Ha ha. I'm still working on those tasks.
And here is a few days' worth of work, putting in the blue shadows.
That's it for right now, time to go to bed and get rested up for another productive week.
