Sunday 23 September 2012

.....And Breathe......

Well, that was the week from Hell indeed and I am very glad it's over!  Dealing with various disasters took up most of my time and I didn't have much left for this, but some progress has been made.

I don't normally (ever!) try and reproduce a picture painted by someone else as I find it not only boring but frustrating due to discovering the other artist's errors or differences in style and technique along the way, which make for a stilted and awkward result.  However, this is for a very good friend of mine who has been a gem for us during difficult days and who has just singlehandedly re-decorated her bedroom and turned it into something from House Beautiful.  She wanted a painting to go on the main empty wall and has been searching for months to no avail.  What she finally found was a greetings card with the perfect scene, and asked if I could reproduce it.  Then she bought an enormous canvas that doesn't even fit on my easel...must confess my heart sank when confronted with that!

However, I have to admit I am actually quite enjoying this - the colours are pretty, the view is calm and not having to think about composition but just matching the colours and slapping them on in the right places has been very therapeutic.  There are a couple of white chairs, some flowers in pots and the balcony railings to still go in, which might be a little trickier than normal (I'm not great with perspective!) but all in all, I'm happy so far.  This is in acrylics by the way.

Would you like a list of my misery from last week? Let's condense it...car failed MOT, costs 4 months' wages to fix due to expensive Japanese part,no car in meantime, huge amount of time wasted fruitlessly searching for seondhand part, phone bill will be massive, walking everywhere, carrying heavy shopping, daughter missed dental appointment due to lack of car, electricity bill wrongly jacked up to silly level (sorted), large cheque lost in post (sorted), dog needs vet (will have to wait until car back), dog pooped twice on carpet (he's a big bugger too, so poo is proportionate), child I work with spectacularly pooped in pants two days running, shoulder hurting due to dog throwing himself after cats while on lead......I think that just about sums it up!  However, I haven't cried, thrown any tantrums or toyed with the idea of doing a Reggie Perrin...yet!  Let's hope the coming week is better!

5 comments:

Sharon Whitley said...

Oh no what a week, I know how you feel about the car - have recently had to spend hundreds on mine after the starter motor decided to completely shatter - the garage had never seen anything like it before and all the shattered bits were in the gear box so major job and was without a car for 2 weeks - now have just found out the steering column needs replacing so that will be another few hundred which I haven't got! Have also had the electric bill which was 5 times what it actually should have been but sorted now! To have all this and more happent to you in a week though bless you! Hopefully painting this calming scene has helped a little though - hope your dog's ok and well done for not throwing a tantrum - I didn't throw a tantrum but there were certainly a few tears over the cost of the car! Oh well it could be worse as I always say - hope things get better! The painting is looking great

Sue Doran said...

Sounds like a pretty sh*t week in more ways than one! Good luck with completion of the painting, I'm sure it will have a sprinkling of your own style and characteristic grace that makes it even better. Hoping for a good week too!

Caroline B said...

Thank you ladies - glad it's not just me! I think hysteria set in round about Thursday and short of an earthquake or alien invasion, nothing would have surprised me. The dog is fine, just needs his bottom parts sorted out (anal glands - lovely!) Having a very peaceful weekend where the most stressful thing (so far) has been doing the ironing......

Magpie Magic said...

Poor thing. That DOES sound like the week from hell. I hope everything calms down and this week it all goes extra well. Lots of hugs. xoxo ♥

Janet Friel said...

I hope things get better for you! I've only just discovered your blog and I've been trawling through the archives. I'm so impressed by your productivity and talent.