The last few days, I was working on the larger gouache painting of my brother—the one with all the eyes. Part of me thinks it’s done, but another part focuses on the areas I don’t like. My intention was to make it look a bit like a paint-by-numbers, but that didn’t exactly happen. Hannah says that the parts that scream out won’t feel the same to anyone else but me. Maybe that’s true, but I don’t know.

Here it is as it is right now:

See what I mean? Some of it is good, and some kinda sucks. But I get this way every time I finish anything. I’m never satisfied until the thing sits around a while. Then, it grows on me a bit, and sometimes a lot. It depends. I may change it/try to blend it more. Or maybe, once I frame it, I will really like it. Frames always improve artwork for whatever reason. Of course, I’d have to decide if I’m changing it before it gets stuck in a frame.

I also finished this smaller watercolor and renamed it, First Born, instead of Boy in a Stroller. I had some pretty insane titles for that one at first, but I can’t remember them off hand. It had something to do with my dad feeling ecstatic that he had a boy, like Thank Jesus it’s a Boy! And some other names were over-the-top. I just can’t remember them. They were funny to me, though. But what’s funny to me can be gruesome to others.

I built a little PR page for my upcoming show. I don’t know if the text is going to stay the same, but there it is for now.

I don’t have too many pieces left to do. It feels like a lot, but I can getter done. I have one more large watercolor and four more oil paintings, plus the framing of the paper pieces. The larger watercolor is of my mother on her wedding day, and the drawing is already on the paper. I did her blouse in ink (so far).

The little oil panel for the book cover show is done. Just waiting for it to dry completely so I can send it back in the mail to the curator, Mat Gleason.

I have decided not to let the crooked name at the bottom bother me too much. It’s not like AI made it. It was made by an imperfect human: me! Ha ha ha.