Listening to Mason Jennings in my well-lit (thank you, spring forward!) studio apartment, I looked at Glory. My fingers gripped a small filbert paintbrush that held a perfect mixture of yellow ochre, titanium white, and cadmium red. Instead of reaching out towards Glory's face, my hand was still. It didn't go anywhere. I stood and waited. Eventually, I put my paintbrush down and stepped back. I crossed my arms, squinted, opened my eyes, squinted, opened my eyes (about 100 times) and grew in confidence that I had, indeed, finished Glory.
I am proud to say that I have completed my first Even Me painting! Glory took a total of 47 hours of work. I wasn't quite sure how the finished piece would look, which is one of the reasons it took me so long to finish: I didn't know when to stop...until last Wednesday, of course!
One of my new Delandian friends, Clark, who's quite the artist himself, described Glory as an impressionist painting. Although I've never considered my work to be impressionistic, I believe he's right: Glory is composed of small brushstrokes of color and has an emphasis on contrasting light. Maybe this is a new style emerging (for those of you who read {morethorp} you might find the word "emerging" to be particularly funny)?
The first thing I thought of after finishing Glory was Glory herself: the real-life Glory. "I want her to see it," I thought to myself. Thankfully, one of my dear friends, Sara, is currently living and working in Tanzania. I asked her to show a photograph of the painting (image above) to Glory.
I found this video when I opened my email today:
With tears streaming down my face, I was completely awestruck. I had no words. I am so grateful to be working on such a touching project. I am completely inspired. Thank you so much, Sara, and all of my backers, and supporters!
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