The Rise and The Fall

She was teary-eyed when she saw it. Perhaps because she's given up hope of its every seeing the light of day! As I confessed in my earlier post, this was the promise that I'd made, the promise I'd procrastinated acting upon and the one thing that made me feel my lowest low in a long, long time.

On the last weekend of the term, I sat with the resolve to have fun and finish it by 4pm. I didn't care about reference pictures or technical flaws. I just needed the final painting to have enough detail and tons of warm colours - the yummy yellows, the ornamental oranges and oh-so-radiant reds. This was also the first painting where I used water colour pencils, though I haven't yet experimented with them enough. I used them for the bark of the trunk and branches at first, but what's more clearly visible are the brush-marks. I used some spray-painting for the finer details and a little oil pastel instead of masking fluid in very insignificant parts (Wish I'd used them more!).

It was just not going to be a smooth ride, I realised within 10 minutes into the process. There was a dinner-party in the evening that I had to cook for a dozen people. New recipes, few supplies, even lesser time. Random incidents demanded me to run out, walk half a kilometer to and fro various nooks of the campus. Tons of distractions later, I saw myself panting to her house with one arm outstretched. That I don't need a CHUNK of time to myself to sit to paint was quite a discovery - yay (that's the usual grouse for procrastinating. I just don't seem to have 7 hours to myself!)!

I finally did it! I was thrilled to bits with the whole process. Not really with the final product. I think I've broken the mental block that I'd developed for a 6 months... now. I can't tell you how much lighter I feel. Here is how it looks.