Being pushed....Good or bad???

I have started the mural of the angels in this small dome. I loved the idea of it. I loved my preliminary drawings. They were hard but I had total confidence I could render pretty angels for the client.

Well, I am on day three of painting on the ceiling with my head thrown back at that awful angle. The Angels are coming slowly. The trick here is my client wants them painted exactly like the pictures. Now, that is the hard part. At first I complained to myself...Too hard, too bad, you get what you get kinda stuff in my head...then I realized that I have to make sure this is exactly what she wants. This is what I have been asked to do, paid to do. PLUS...it pushes my skill and my talents and forces me to really look. (I have had to wear reading glasses in the dome while painting). But like anything that is difficult, it is painful for me. I hate the slowness and the awkwardness of doing something that is not easy. If this was a piece at home I would have decided somewhere yesterday "It's good enough" but because this is for a client who has been saving angel pictures for years. She wants it just like she wants it. These are just a few of the pictures she has shown me.


Character building...a study on being patient with ones own abilities and still pushing for more. The first day I found myself getting a bit defensive...Then that voice in my head said "why?...It's just paint!" So big deep breath and listen hard and try to force my hand to do what she is asking..."Green clouds, deeper skies, big limped eyes, hair just so...." Here is the sky she wants in her dome.



I explained it to my son my day was like this...."You work all summer to throw a baseball 75 mi/hr. You practice all summer. Hard, sweat, frustration but you reach your goal. You do it, you have confidence with it and you can now throw reasonably consistent at 75 mi/hr. You are happy and proud. Then you make the team and the coach says..."Good but now, I want 80 mi/hr". Disappointment, hurt feelings but then you pull up your boot straps...(socks) a big deep breath and you start...And then you bust yourself to get there, thinking that is the most you can do. Tired, exhausted and you think you have no more in you.
Then they say "now, we want 85...."

So tonight, as I type this with a hot pack on my neck thinking about the last three angels I have yet to paint, I am thinking I am so glad she has pushed because I am painting far better than I thought I would be. My own 85 mi/hr.

I will only get better if I keep trying harder...And hopefully make a few people happy along the way.

I'll post my angels tomorrow after I get some pictures.