Art Fail

I hear a lot of talk about blog-induced depression. I know what it's like to read blog posts by amazing women who seem to have it all together, from home decor to gourmet cooking to building tables from bed frames. Let not my blog be that to thee lest I show you my dirty floors and dinner menu (if we had cereal for breakfast, we can have eggs for dinner).

Sometimes my projects come out great! I usually show you those. Other times...not so much. Like this one.

One time I thought it would be a good idea to paint this on a canvas:

Oxford, England from that same trip in 2005 that I keep blogging about.

One major problem: I hate drawing, painting, reproducing architecture in art. Not my strong suit! What's with the wrought iron fences in the foreground and background?! I can't paint straight lines! What was I thinking?

I started painting Alyssa in the corner of the canvas and had such a hard time with skin tone, that I almost threw out the whole project. I wasn't excited about the boring background, so I gave up on painting it from the picture. I decided to take it in a different direction... 

...by adding a dragon. 

It seemed like the right decision. I painted them having a coffee date, naturally. Then I thought, "What will I do with this background? I hate painting architecture." So I painted a colorful sky. But that was too boring, so I added hot air balloons. 

That's how it ended up like this:

I call it, "Dragon Coffee Date"

I know you want to ask, "What the heck?" but I already explained it to you. 

I told this story to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. We laughed and laughed, and then she said, "You should hang it up in your house!"

So I did. In the back bedroom that we use as an office/craft room.

It's been hiding in the closet for years. I thought about doing another canvas upgrade like I did with my fabulous painting, so I was looking for something to use and came across this. I couldn't cover it, Dragon Coffee Date is just too funny to cover up. I laugh every time I look at it.

I hope this inspires you to reach new heights with your art and home decor skills.

P.S. I also painted that using different paints: half acrylic and half oil. Can you tell which parts are painted with which paint?

P.P.S. I believe this painting was what awakened my Pete's Dragon obsession, which I forced upon all my friends at my joint birthday party that year:

That's an Elliot pinata.

See?

Please note that inviting your friends to a party and forcing them to watch a strange movie from your childhood doesn't always go over well. At least we had a pinata!