There were a number of times when I thought I had wrecked it and contemplated giving up on it. But whenever I got some distance from it I was able to either see it with 'new' eyes ('Hey, that's not so bad!") or while driving I would have a thought about how I could make it work.
Often it overwhelmed me. There was too much color, too many brush strokes. The flesh is too bright, the flesh is too grey. It's way too spotty. What is she trying to say? Was there any message any more? Was the painting all over the place and no longer focused? How can I pull all of that together??
Those were my voices. But slowly, slowly I brought it under control--every day new changes, slowly working at making it better but never knowing until the final days that I could see the end was near.
And here it is.
