The Joys of Learning Lessons

Don't you love it, when what should have been a 2-day project turns into a 2-week event!?  This has been my story for the past two weeks in regards to trying to finish up the new painting I've been working on - the companion piece to BIG PLANS which I blogged about last week - the COMING SOON one!  This should have been a fairly simple piece to do, and after blocking the painting in, mostly in one day, I felt confident that there would be only two days of tweaking, tops!  This painting was a classic case of the more I worked it, the more off track it became. In the end, I conclude that this experience was the renewal of a lesson I've known my whole life: "PRIOR PLANNING PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE!" Here were a few of my pains: Once I had this painting "almost finished," I got out the print of BIG PLANS, and quickly realized the blue cloud was not the same color, and much too large; the grass was the color of a different season; I painted a show calf, rather than one just pulled from the lot as BIG PLANS is; and, this little girl (cute as she is) is really more like a "big sister" than a similar age to the little boy in the first piece. Seeing the Good:  Oh well - there is nothing wrong with a big sister companion piece, and for the first time - I USED MY PAINTING CHARTS TO MATCH THE SKY AND GRASS - AND THEY WORKED!  Wow, it was a moment of revelation for me, the long days spent creating the painting charts had their first workout this past week. I have to say, I was impressed with how quickly I was able to solve the problem of matching paint back to the first painting BIG PLANS, and get very close!   And so - I am happy to report that the painting, two weeks later, is finished!  As I mentioned before, plans are to print this spring some time - stay posted!! Wishing you all a wonderful Valentine's Day - with lots of flowers, chocolate, and LOVE! Thanks for reading! Bonnie