It needs a few more minor touches but it's finished for the most part. I thought I would be elated but mostly I'm just very tired. I don't even know if it's good anymore. All I know is that it is the very best I could do with what I know right now. I gave it everything I had, and all the talent I could muster. I had to accept at some point that I couldn't make it the perfect gift. I wouldn't make it the perfect painting. It is just a painting by a very new artist, an amateur with a warrior's heart. It is what it is. You can't imagine what your comments and encouragement did for me! I would have given up many times along the way without your help. Honestly.This piece taught me that I had romanticized a lot of the artist's process - that he happily painted his huge canvas, knowing exactly where he/she was going and whipped the final product out with joy and glee and a delight to all. It is a wrenching process, a struggle, a long, long climb and finally you reach the top of the hill and you have to sit down and rest for a moment, catch your breath, before you can really enjoy the view.
All I can hope for is that it brings beauty and joy to the space, and honors and blesses those I love.
