A broken painting

One of these things is not like the other....

​It's been a rough year. Ask me if there was anything I could go back and change, and I'd tell you I'd change January through June. Between sickness and two personal injuries, I've never had such a streak of bad luck. As I stand now, on one foot and two crutches, I have at least 2 more months before I can claim to be whole again.

Enter the biggest (pun intended) challenge of my artistic existence. Bestowed upon myself by me, it is the challenge of painting a 3 foot by 5 foot stretched canvas, in less than two months time for an exclusive fine art show, all on a broken foot and crutches, and a blood clot to boot. The idea of the large piece seemed grand back in January, before I slid down the slippery slope of doom.

In the past I have taken on larger painting tasks. When I participated in the Pastels on 5th event, I was assigned the largest square of concrete sidewalk in the whole festival, two years back to back. Imagine being faced with having to paint a 6 foot by 8 foot concrete square on your hands and knees, and having a sweet time limit of 4 hours. Yeah. It took me 9.5 hours the first year. I got smart the second year and brought help. Still took us 6 hours, lol. Don't even ask me about the sun burn I took homeafterwards. Then shortly after, I was contracted to paint a two wall mural in a child's bedroom. Thankfully that part of the house was still under construction and I was able to work on it at my leisure.

So, the challenge is on, I have just over two weeks to complete this piece before installation on the 24th. I've logged 38 hours of work time, all while sitting on an office chair at the easel. My painting has been done mostly upside down, due to the fact that I can not reach the upper half of the canvas! I have to take breaks and elevate my foot, the blood clot in my lower leg reminds me that I haven't done that as much as I should be. There are times I stop and ask myself just why I'm doing this, but I am seeing great progress, and am getting excited to finish this piece for the "Expressions" exhibit and sale. Although, it would have been much easier to do this on two whole feet
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A "Current" look at the monster better known as
"In Forever Sky" , 3ftx5ft, oil original painting. Stay tuned to see future progress and updates and a full color version of the finished piece soon.

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