I should have known better than to paint this. But I did it anyway... for 56 cents.
You see my daughter has been begging me to paint a rainbow unicorn on her wall for a year now. Well, it is summer and I finally decided to do it. Why did it take me this long - we have lived here for 5 years.... well, here's some history for you.
When we first moved to this house she shared a room with her brother. I painted a castle on one wall, and on the other I cut out a stencil of a knight on a white horse out of contact paper. When I touched up the castle adding shadows my daughter yelled at me and cried and told me I ruined it. Then she got mad at me one day and tore the knight off of the wall.
So for this painting tried to involve her. I let her choose the pose and the horse and the colors. She watched me work and added her insights. Then she got bored and left to play. After I finished it I knew I had to snap a picture before something happened to it. When she saw it she said it looked too blue and it needed to be fixed. She was upset with me, which, I should have expected.
So I graciously told her it was her room and she could do what she pleased with it. I was a little frustrated because I really did try to do it to her specifications! So I walked out of the room and she fixed it. She cleaned up the paint and tidied her room afterward. Later that day she handed me this apology note and 56 cents.
At least it was an apology. I was a bit grouchy when she rejected my original design..
Can I just say...It's been a hard year for me on the mural front. Just last month I had a mural client who hated how it turned out and wants to paint over it, barely paying for supplies... and then this week I hear that another mural that I completed will likely not be paid for as the client is going out of business.
So, this note meant a lot to me! I am thankful to my daughter for acknowledging that I put my heart into this project that I did for her, and that it was worth something to her. (all 56 cents worth!)
Thanks for joining my artistic journey! - even when it is rough!
The art business is hard... everyone's a critic!
-Deborah King