I’m the proud “mother” of four paintings, which represent chapters 1-4 of my second novel, The Adventures of Infinity and Negativa. One of my goals for this fourth painting was to complete it before I had to return to school. It’s good to have deadlines for each painting to keep me on my toes. From here on out, I think the realistic deadline will be to complete a painting a month. I’m definitely a much better painter now than I was before I began this endeavor.
I must admit that despite the flaws of this painting, I didn’t have to redo a significant number of mistakes. That was part of the reason I completed it in 15 days. Hopefully, with my improved techniques, I’ll be able to complete a painting a month now that school’s starting up again. I really like the color scheme of this painting and of course the geometric sections. I didn’t think through using sepia for the wall behind the hammock. I usually use sepia for the twins’ hair; so I had to use black instead. Worked out fine in the end. A humorous mistake was the hookah. Although I decorated and shaped it consistently, it appears squashed or elongated, depending on the section the viewer’s looking at. And for a fourth painting, I still have not perfected the body proportions, especially in the bottom section. Poor Infinity has an extra long leg and a shrunken head. Just like a parent with her fourth child, I was not nearly as uptight about correcting mistakes with this one as I was with the fourth one.
Unlike when I added the third painting on the wall, I do not feel overpowered by the intense energy exuding from the collection. They draw my attention whenever I walk by and I suspect that once I get at least two paintings on the second row, which will be at the end of October if not sooner, then I’ll go through another shock. Until then, I have to take advantage of every little speck of time that I have at my disposal. I figure that ten minutes is the bare minimum that’ll make it worth my time to take everything out onto the patio and work on a section. I’ve had plenty of practice setting up my canvas on the terrace over this summer. I wonder if I’ll experience intense concentration like I do whenever I have merely 5 minutes to write. That remains to be seen.