One hour spent making a sketch.

One hour spent trying to transfer previously mentioned sketch from computer to paper at the proper scale.

One hour spent transferring sketch to canvas without the right tools.

One hour spent modifying the drafting table to work as an easel.

Twenty minutes spent doing the under-painting.

Four hours and twenty minutes spent already on this painting, and all I have to show for it is a few weak pencil lines on a canvas, under-painting that is far too dark and heavy, and a WHOLE lot of frustration.

I’m not really complaining, but it usually doesn’t take me that long to get ready to do some painting, especially not when I already have the idea firmly planted in my head. Usually my time is spent unwisely just sitting and staring at the canvas until I am “moved” to get started. Oh well, nothing to be done about it really. It was time well-spent, even if it was mostly spent with me being frustrated with nothing working the way I wanted it to work. At least I got the under-painting done, even if is IS far too dark. I guess that will just mean I’ll have to lay on the next coats of paint really thick, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I’ve always been skimpy with the paint, mostly because it’s expensive and I never knew when I was going to get more. That’s not really any issue anymore. I can afford to go buy another tube of paint if I need to. :)

Dr. Who (the new one) is coming on the SciFi Channel at 8 pm, so I better get the pizza in the oven. Maybe later, after the show is over, I’ll go back to the kitchen and start doing the next layer of paint. I’m eager to see how badly I can mess up this painting. My inner child is all excited about it. I’m going all Van Gogh and painting a Blue Dutch Iris, and you know that little inner brat just LOVES flowers … but I’m a bit disturbed about not being able to even get the under-painting the right tone and color. That doesn’t exactly inspire my inner adult’s confidence. :D

But I’ll admit that even though this canvas has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start, I am liking it so far … which obviously means it’s really going to SUCK! ;)