What is Normal, Anyway?

This painting took me over a month to paint.  Not because it was complicated.  Because life was different, very different.  I started the painting before COVID 19 was declared to be a Pandemic.  I was comfortably in my rented Studio space.  After just playing on paper for so long, I just wanted to do a simple portrait from a photo I took in Barcelona.  I wasn’t sure I would finish it before our upcoming month long trip to England, Spain and Portugal but hey, it was pretty straight forward.  Until…  I didn’t return to my Studio for a couple of weeks after it was recommended to self isolate.  When I realized the isolation was going to last for a long time, possibly months, I decided to move some of my stuff to a corner of our condo.  It was different.  It was strange.  Not near as comfortable as what I had become used to.  It took me a couple of days but I started to work on my painting.  Everything I mixed turned into caca.  Caca.  And I paint colour.  It took me days to gain enough confidence to try again.  I covered the caca with some bright colours, all background at this point.  Then an hour here, a half hour there, I painted a bit, not really knowing what I wanted to do or where the painting was going.  I stayed away from it for over a week.  I woke up this morning with the realization that I was actually afraid to finish this painting.  Why was I afraid?  Because it meant this might be my new normal?  So this afternoon I let myself go and just painted.  Changed everything about her face, changed the background, changed her hair.  Then just signed it.  Now I am mesmerized by her.  Maybe I have found a new normal. Only time will tell, of which I have a lot of right now.

What is Normal, Anyway?  Acrylic, 16 x 16