Color matching can be more frustrating than you'd think...

the purple lady

On Friday we spent the first hour and a half of class having a discussion about our work and art in general (if you're interested, Zach posted some of our discussion questions below.) While the discussion was good for our group to have, I was very restless to start painting. However, earlier in the week I had used up the main color of the purple lady I've been working on for this piece of the mural. So, in order to start painting I had to recreate the color from scratch...yeah, that didn't go well.

Painting is very much a release for me. I love the freedom a brush can give an artist. Sometimes unexpected things can result from the strokes of the brush and they make a piece even better, it's amazing. But for the first time since we started actually painting, I hit a point where I had to completely walk away from my work and go accomplish something else to get me back to a good place mentally. The perfectionist in me was so frustrated at myself for not being able to do what I thought was something so simple, just mixing up a new batch of paint to match a color I'd already made before. I was actually surprised by how worked up I got.

This class is teaching me patience, though. And just as importantly, to also try to balance my ego and inner critic, which is something I'm not afraid to say I struggle with sometimes. Having a bad day in the studio perhaps isn't the worst thing, and having a setback every once in awhile can maybe motivate me to have a super productive day next time I head in to do some work. I'm happy with where we're at as a class on our piece, and I look forward to coming closer each day to our goal of creating a work of art that's worth sharing with others.

- Simi