Paint On My Hands

O h, this was a busy art week. There was the birthday present that wasn’t due to a stern "don’t give me any gifts" dictate (which ended up fine for me, as the work turned out to be something I’m more than happy to have for my own gallery), and the birthday present that was better-received than I’d hoped. I’m not going to dwell on the first.

As I’ve written here before, Tess* loves her horse. I mean, what’s not to love? He’s soft (still has his foal furry coat), he’s gentle, and he’s affectionate. And he’s getting big for his age—which is to be expected since his predominant breed is Percheron. I had in my mind a full-face painting, with the horse looking straight-on at the viewer. Trouble was, I didn’t have any pictures with that view.

Enter my co-conspirator: Dale, Tess’ grandmother. When Tess was off on a house-sitting job, I enlisted Dale to take me to the stables so I could snap a few dozen pictures of the young horse. Not only was I after the head-on pose, but I also wanted a library of markings for any possible future paintings. The head-on shot was amazingly difficult to get. Every time I would set up the shot, the horse, affectionate little tyke that it is, would walk to me…close enough that I couldn’t get the full head in the shot. With a fair amount of persistence, I managed to get what I needed.

With pictures in hand, I worked out the layout and ordered an appropriately-sized canvas. And waited. Once the canvas was delivered, I had just over a week to get the painting done (keep in mind, I was also working on that other work at the same time). And I mucked it up from the start by using the wrong base color. Oh well. The week had promising moments, and an equal number of moments when I was sorely disappointed. I even called Dale, a couple of days before Tess’ birthday, and said that I didn’t think I’d have it ready on time.

I pulled a near-all-nighter the day before the deadline and ended up with a less than good painting. Again, I called Dale. I suggested that maybe we just have Tess come over and decide if she wanted it, and also if we wanted…I’d make her a better one (though it would take a month or two to get to it). Not wanting to disappoint, I again worked through the night trying to fix everything that I could to make it OK. To be truthful, it turned out better than I was expecting.

The next day, Tess’ birthday, she and most of the family came over. Tess got all misty, and this reserved young lady hugged me. I could not hope for a better MasterCard "priceless" moment. I’m going to remember her reaction for a long-long time. And that’s why I do stuff like this. Her happiness made the fatigue of two all-but sleepless night disappear. My gift to Tess allowed me to have a great gift of my own. Awwwww.

I wasn’t done. I still had to varnish the thing, and then deliver it and attach the necessary hanging hardware. Even though the day, and the week, was very tiring, it was all worth it. I mean, to see the smile on her face and the tender thanks in her eyes….very worth it.