– SOLD – Nintai” – Acrylic On Box Board Canvas – 152.5cm x 122cm

“Nintai” meaning patience in Japanese is something I have very little of.

When I start a painting I very rarely walk away from it until it’s complete. This sometimes means painting through the night into the next day watching the sunrise knowing I have just aged myself horrendously but happy because it’s worth it. It sometimes means working days on a painting only taking breaks to eat, bath and sleep. However with “Nintai” this was not an option. I taped each square carefully and planned my colours and patterns carefully but couldn’t overlap until they had dried properly. This mean waiting between layers. I must be honest and say this killed me. It was so hard to do. I even set up fans and had my kids helping me blow dry the painting. However drying the top layer doesn’t work because if I taped over it would still peel up the paint. I kept thinking to myself “Natalie, just be patient!” Anyone who knows me knows I do not have one patient bone in my body. When I want to do something I want to do it now. This is often at my detriment and has also created more issues for me to fix due to doing this hastily. Half way through this painting I embraced the time. I sat back relaxed and planned the next colours.

I don’t think I will do anything quite like this again for a while though. While enjoyed the slow process I’m not sure I want to attempt it any time soon again. 🙂