Well, I’m kinda back to work. I worked on a watercolor all day, but like always, I’m not sure I liked how it turned out. It didn’t quite capture my intentions. I also can’t piece it together when scanning it. I’m usually really good at that, but I can’t seem to do it today. Probably because I’m out of it, tired, and dizzy. I should be resting.

Here it is, but unfortunately, you can see parts of the overlap. It’s titled Young Exemplaries, and it’s 16 x 12 inches. I used nice Arches paper, and now that it’s off the block, I can transfer the other piece, which is the same size but formatted in landscape.

Here’s the sketch for the next one that’s the same size called Boy in a Stroller.

Hannah shaved my head the other day, and it looks way better than it did before. The staples are still prominent, but nothing a bandana can’t fix. I don’t want to scare anyone, but I’m not supposed to wear anything over the sutures. I’m supposed to let air get to it as much as possible. I just can’t bring myself to do that in public or if someone comes over. I was thinking about going to the dog park tomorrow morning. I think I’ll be up for it, plus Ruby misses her friends.

Once the next watercolor is done, I will have only two more to do, and three oil paintings to finish. Then, I will have all sixteen pieces I wanted to have for the show. This morning, I printed out all the photographs that will hang next to each painting. I made most of them a bit bigger than the actual photos since I’d planned to hang them at the top left side of the paintings. I don’t know why. I just picture it that way.

Today, I meant to post a picture of my mom and me on Instagram. Today was her birthday. I was going to use one of the photos I’m painting. Since I forgot, here’s the one I was thinking of posting, but since I forgot, I’ll post it here.

All I know is that we were being silly. My mom didn’t dress like that, and she didn’t wear wigs that often. She wore them, but not all the time, and I don’t remember her wearing that particular one any other time but this day. She also put ribbons in her hair, and that was to match the ribbons in my hair. I remember that part. I remember laughing when my dad took that picture.

Having only six paintings left makes me feel accomplished and confident that I will be able to complete everything on time. I’m not as worried about it as I was before the surgery. It’s the oil paintings that take forever. The last two watercolors (one is a gouache), are larger (23 x 30 inches). I’m a little worried about the gouache since I’m not great at blending opaque paint. But we’ll see. I’d like it to turn out looking like a paint-by-numbers. I’ll just do the best I can. That’s been good enough in the last year. Just doing the best I can. (It’s good enough!)

Yesterday, I worked on the little panel with the book cover on it. It seems to be turning out okay. It’s still wet with oil paint, so I have to wait until I can scan it. Well, maybe I can take a quick photo of it…

Seems to be okay, but it’s crooked and all the snow looks yellow. But at least it fits the requirements. That show will also be in May, but I forgot when exactly. I still need to do some black outlines on this (when it’s dry), and then I can send it off. There’s really nothing I can do about it being a little crooked. This one is titled Bricklayer in the Snow.

I have to start getting my admin stuff done for the show. I have a long list of things to do, like getting frames, making a postcard or a flyer, and trying to figure out something clever for the VIP promo package. I have no idea what to do yet, but I considered View Masters. However, I think those are only exciting for 3D pictures. So, I really don’t know right now. Maybe I’ll think of something great.