A post in which my picture is finished!

I finally got the reports straightened out today to do month end. So late this afternoon, the work started. Great. I’m pretty sure I can get all the month end reports done, but next week’s report is going to be super-squeaky tight to get out by Wednesday afternoon. That’s life I guess.

After work I went to pick up my second new painting (finally)! The guy helped me wrestle it into the car, and told me there was no way to hang it except with a “drywall molly” due to the weight. I dutifully went right over to Home Depot and proceeded to mystify the staff by asking for a couple. No one there had ever heard of them. So I picked up a couple of hundred pound bulldog hangers and headed for the house.

dana called me from the car on the way to Savannah. She said that Greg was at their place though, and that he could help me with the picture. So I drove over there, let him follow me home, and the picture went up surprisingly easily. I had thought it was going to be a real issue, but it went up with the hangers I had. We checked to see if they looked as if they would hold, and then went to supper. We had Mexican at the little place near my house. It’s kind of hit or miss, and my food wasn’t very good tonight. I hope Greg’s was better. The main charm (other than proximity) is that it still has a smoking section, but when we got there I found out Greg didn’t smoke. I can’t believe I didn’t know that. If his food wasn't any better than mine, I guess he'll score the experience as charm-free.

After supper we relaxed at my place and talked for a while. I put in Ponyo. The new picture looks enormous because the frame is huge and sticks out 4-6 inches from the wall. It really dominates the room. Greg left after a while and I finished watching the movie before turning in.

The new picture, in pride of place above the mantle. Isn't that frame gorgeous? I mean I love the picture too, but wow. I am just so impressed with myself.

(The new painting is a copy of one called Samson Breaking His Bands, by John Francis Rigaud. It depicts Samson breaking the fresh bowstrings with which Delilah has bound him while he slept. She bound him twice before he finally told her that his hair was the secret, and we all know what happened then. I have to think that a guy who kept telling his girlfriend to tie him up with stuff had to be a kindred spirit on some level. Rigaud was an English painter who painted this in 1784. This painting was his diploma piece and secured his place in the Royal Society. It is of course painted after the style of the famous Caravaggio, with a religous subject rendered in bright light against a dark background. Shortly after 1800, though, his career went into decline, and he largely restored painted decorations in buildings after that.)