Friday, December 27, 2013

Acts of Frustrating Art

My sister-in-law wanted me to paint a tree for her. The tree is part of this project at showers (or other parties) where everyone dips their fingers into paint and makes the leaves on the limbs of the tree. It's a cute idea, but not that easy of a project. In fact, it's weighed on me for about a week now.

My roommate and I have discussed this damned tree so much. We came to the conclusion that the tree she liked was probably either some large stamp, some large stencil, or something photoshopped and printed onto canvas. All of these things have nothing to do with the loose, swiggly, and somewhat sinister painting style that I happen to possess. This caused a lot of frustration over the last few days.

I don't know. Maybe if I had owned some smaller, tighter brushes it would have been easier. Maybe if I'd just painted with more confidence. The later edits looked somewhatish better, due to me pretending to have more confidence about it and just forcing myself not to leave hesitation marks. Maybe if I'd had more time . . . no, actually, I don't think more time would have served to do anything but make me soulsick.

Due to innovation with stencils for lettering and filigree, blessed help from my roommate (he ended up stenciling the names because that part was driving me so bonkers I was about to set the canvas on fire), and magic markers, the end result looked decent.......ish. My SIL seemed happy with it when she picked it up, but she teaches little kids so I'm sure she's really good at faking enthusiasm.

The important thing is that the project is over. The canvas is out of my house, out of my hands, and past the point where I can do anything about it. YAYYYYYY!! Now we can go back to our quiet, happy lives where we only paint zombies.

No comments:

Post a Comment