So when I wrote down my ideas for Volume 4, I underlined PAINTINGS!! twice because I was so excited about digging out my brushes and getting all artistic. After Volume 2’s full-page stippled illustrations, and Volume 3’s tiny little bird drawings, the sponentaiety and energy of wet media was very enticing. I imagined myself hanging the finished work on our blank white walls and spending my evenings hunched over the easel, furiously communing with the Muse of Painting.

          After using up two weeks’ worth of work time, a whole pad of oil paper, and two tubes of paint, the time has come to face the fact: I suck at painting. Also, Henry kept touching my wet paintings, and it turns out: I also suck at removing oil paint from a toddler.

          A few nights ago I finally put all the oil paper in the trash, gave my brushes a good clean, scrubbed the last of the pint-sized handprints off the wall, and unboxed my Pilot Razorpoints. “I’m sorry,” I said to the pens. “People get crazy once in a while. It was a big mistake. I promise, baby, I’ll never leave you again.”

 

In other Absent Classic news, Lily had me over for an interview the other day. You can read the results and view 3 beautiful drawings (my scrapbook, my table, and The Middle East) here.