But even more so, I wanted to paint it for a very special person in my life. Because love is like a fungus, that grows on your heart. Awe, wait, what?
Come October, I finally found the ambition to go ahead and start, intending it to be a Christmas present.
I had an old oil painting based on this weird reading I had to read in my painting class in college, sitting in the back of my closet. I was never in love with the painting and thought that it was time to turn it into something that I actually like.
The painting below is the dreaded inhabitant of my closet. As I recall, I think that the woman in the story was turned into some sort of woman/worm hybrid slave that was forced to create silk in her body. I don't know, it was a weird story that was a struggle for me to get through.
I started anew. First by painting over the old painting and then sketching out the new on the hand-stretched canvas.
I then added a colored base.
From there I worked on it section by section instead of on the whole because there was a lot of blending of wet paints to be done before the acrylic dried.
I had my operation set up in the dining room for the duration of its creation. Every time my boyfriend would come over to the house, instead of covering it up (because I was too lazy) I would slyly have him avoid the room entirely. Actively trying to limit his exposure to the house beyond the kitchen. In some instances, the house in general, just in case I couldn't trust the secret being revealed.
I am proud to admit that it worked, he says he loves the painting (the sign of a good boyfriend), and it is currently hanging above his bed (the sign of an even better boyfriend).
