I couldn’t figure out why the giant oil painting of sequoias in snow was taking so long. The answer is that I had a math accident. 

The customer decided on 18×36″, and I agreed that I could finish it in the time needed, although it would be quite tight.

I painted and painted, each morning before heading to work on the mural in the afternoon, some mornings before teaching drawing lessons in Exeter, mornings before my business referral group Zoom meeting. It seemed that I wasn’t making much progress in each session. Although I got areas finished, they were a smaller percentage of the entire painting than I expected to cover.

One day, I was looking over my inventory list, adding and numbering new jobs (have I mentioned how much work I have?) and I noticed that the canvas of sunny sequoias, which I converted to the snowy sequoia painting, was listed as being 24×48″.

I got the tape measure out, and sure enough, instead of painting 18×36″, I am painting 24×48″.

24×48″?

Yeppers.

Ridiculous math accident.

And that is why I have to stand on a ladder to paint the top edge.

My customer was extraordinarily gracious and understanding.  We spent a fair amount of time laughing together on the phone about the situation, and then he told me to adjust my price to reflect the true value of the painting!

His company has plans to reproduce it in several formats, and it will still work because the proportions are the same as 18×36. Because it is larger, I am able to achieve tighter and better detail. So, it is all turning out better than planned or imagined.