But after the first review with the client, we discovered a problem. It was a rookie mistake.
But the client still believed in me. I wasn’t sharing her assurance.
After 3 months of wrestling with it, I humbly started over.
You can’t imagine the number of people I had praying for me with this project.
I sought council and council sought me. Labors of love are intense.
Why was this particular portrait so important? It’s because of the purity of mutual love and a portrait of puppy love.
After so many years of painting pet portraits and a few human portraits- it was so exciting and challenging to paint the experience of this kind of love.
It was wildly technically challenging. I measured a measured again.
But the real challenge was to capture the blissful feeling so that the viewer feels it too. You can only know it when it arrives.
This one helped me grow in confidence, humility, pushing through doubt.
It’s so much more too but it might fill a novel so I’ll stop — except to say… don’t stop. Keep going. Keep believing.
I loved studying this face for so long and I miss the project. It was a great teacher.
If you read this far, know that your heart is big. I appreciate you.
