Slice of Life: 3-22-15

              I lean closer to the watercolor paper and paint another line onto it. I am almost done with this map, I’ve been working on it for almost the whole week at school. I have never painted maps, and haven’t tried to make them much at all, but in this past week, I seem to have found a new pass-time. The arrow I am painting rounds the corner between the Italian mainland and Cecily, cutting through the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Jerusalem. Either you already know because you are some kind of expert, or you don’t, but I am making a map of the Crusades. In short, the Crusades were holy wars in the 1000’s-1300 when different popes from Western Europe instructed their people to take back the holy land (Islam) from the Muslims and Jews. Thousands of people fought, and thousands of people died, and many other things happened. You are now caught up.

              Sorry to give you a lecture, but I just do that sometimes.

              Making the final arrow, I stroke the small watercolor brush across the rough paper and step back. I am truly satisfied by my work, as I am with other artistic things. I tried to make it look like a true medieval-look map, from the watercolor to the calligraphy, and I think it looks okay. I reach to the side of the paper to pick up, planning my rout to my art-folder thing, when I realize that there is no key on it. Just as I was about to sigh and smile, all while packing up the watercolor brushes and my small cup of water, I have to put it back and spend another ten minutes of perfectly good time on the key.

              Not only that, but I will need to strain the muscles in my hand, trying to not mess up on the writing. If I do mess it up, it will either look really bad or I will start over, which will absolutely suck. I get my ticket for the imaginary lottery, my chances getting slimmer and slimmer the more I work on this map.

              I sigh, but not like I was about to, more of a tired and irritated sigh to accompany me picking up the smallest brush and dipping it in the cup of water. I lean back closer to the paper and put my brush down onto the paper.