Summer 2007:
I carefully gathered objects for my first still life in my new studio (my parents basement). I had just graduated college and was excited to begin my artistic career. I was ready to challenge myself, to paint a masterpiece that would prove that I was no longer a student, but an artist!
Summer 2009:
My masterpiece, half finished, sat sadly on my easel, practically forgotten. The bottles and mirror were coated in dust. I had found my challenge to be too challenging. I had chosen colors I had never painted, odd shaped bottles, and to make wine glasses more difficult to paint...break them. Then throw in a mirror. The expensive wine was meant to be my reward when I finished, but was close to turning. I had two options, finish that summer...or take it down and drink the wine anyway. In my mind, if I gave up, I would never be an artist. It would be the beginning of a lifetime of starting and giving up before it's over.
Winter 2010:
Still unfinished, but much closer...The push to the finish was on, and extremely sporadic. All that remained was mostly details, and it was driving me nuts! I didn't have the time or patience to sit and stare at it for hours, making small changes now and again. It seemed hopeless. I felt sure that I would never finish and that the wine had spoiled. But still...I couldn't give up.
Oddly enough, I found my motivation...at work...from an employee. One of the guys in my department asked what I was doing that night. I answered, painting. When I explained that I meant painting a still-life, not changing the color of my livingroom, the whole story of the unfinished masterpiece came out. And that became the thing he loved to give me a hard time about. Every couple weeks, he would say, "Hey, Kate. Finish that painting yet? How long's it been? Five years?"
February 2010:
Finished! "In your face!" Yeah, I finished and I brought it in to work to show it off. Proof that maybe I can do this art thing. Maybe my next painting will only take one year.
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