Past the Easy Parts

Now some of you readers may be in for a shock, so be prepared for this next line.

You ready?

Ok. Here it is. Life isn't easy.

Yep I said it.

And painting isn't easy either.

I walk into the studio and gather my palette, brushes and paint. I put my work in progress on my easel, and I sigh....

Because the work in progress stage sucks.

Starting a painting is invigorating, you don't think, you just paint what you feel. And when you are done, you're done. But then you come back to it and recognize the flaws, the spots you forgot. And you realize that what you see could use improvement so you resolutely start touching it up.

And then you get bored... So booooooorrrrreeeeeddddd. But you aren't a quitter, and you know you won't be happy if you walk away from this halfway done painting so you keep going.

You forget about perspective because you just want to be done. But then you realize without that perspective the painting won't end up how you want it to. (Feel free to interpret perspective in life terms, whether as your goals, religion, family whatever.)

You rushed ahead with the focal point and forgot about the background and the details so you've got to go back and add that in.

(Again interpret that in a life way. Details are important. Being too focused on the main thing while skipping the little things doesn't work out well.) And you realized their wouldn't be a freaking tunnel in the middle of the woods so you've got to add a mountain in there to fix it. ( I don't have an interpretation for this but if you found a moral in there good for you.)

And you drag yourself back to the studio each day.

Slowly your painting looks worse and worse.

Until the day comes....

When it's completed and beautiful and way beyond your original vision for it.

The pride you feel.

That you continued on, past the point you wanted so badly to give up.

Now my life isn't over, not for a long time hopefully, cause I've got lots to do. But I feel like painting is like life.

Coming to earth I can just picture myself so freaking excited.

Then I came here, and it's hard.... There's pieces that are great and beautiful but really I'm just one ongoing work in progress. It's exhausting at times.

But someday all those screw ups will work together to become a masterpiece.

So until that day comes I'll just keep painting.

Painting by faith.