The End is in Sight

I just came to the realization, after receiving our final exam schedule, that the end is almost here! I unexpectedly took a teaching job in January, if you remember, after quitting my previous teaching job in June in order to paint full-time. It wasn't an easy decision to make, taking this job, but between many things that weren't under my control, I felt that it would be unwise to turn it down. The school was being very accommodating with my painting schedule and the pay was good so I took the job thinking it would only be until May 27th. It's only less than 5 months, how hard could it be? Plus, I got to teach pre-calculus for the first time, which I actually enjoy.

The job itself is not hard. I enjoy the subject and most of the kids are great. The part that has been hard is teaching in the morning until about 1, painting in the afternoon until around 5, then tutoring in the evening until 7 (oh yeah, did I mention that I tutor three days a week too? ), that has been killing me. Add in two major painting deadlines, 5 days of open studios, and life in general... well, let's just say I REALLY need a vacation right about now. Tired does not describe what I feel. I am way beyond that. But the end is in sight. My day job is almost over. We have one week before standardized testing, which is a week long and we don't teach during this week. Then two and a half weeks before finals, which is also a week, then DONE! Back to being a full-time artist! WOO HOO!

Until then though, I need to keep trucking and continue painting to meet my deadlines, continue teaching, and continue living this very busy life of mine.

Here's my progress on my diptych:

I finished the underpainting of the second panel. Sanding the panels first would have made my life a thousand times easier, but I forgot to do that. Oh well.

Here's both panels together. I managed to work on the first boy some more. I'm hoping to finish this painting by the end of this weekend. Here's a detail of the boy.