...get back to work

My new office in Wisconsin is, for the first time, all mine! After years of sharing an office with my fellow adjuncts, now that I have my own space the first thing I wanted to to was decorate. As someone who studies hope and identifies as a positive development psychologist, people tend to think that I should be one of those touchy-feely sweet types that are full of optimism and affirmation.

They're wrong. 

When I saw this image on Pinterest, I knew immediately it was the message I wanted to send to a student sitting in my office (and myself, for that matter). 

But, simply printing this out and hanging it on the wall wasn't going to do. Instead, I decided to make my own canvas version, you know, as I do.

So, I found some 16x22 canvases on sale at Michaels and set to work. First, I painted the whole thing blue with a sample of the Behr Spa Blue that I painted my craft room. 

Then, with pencil, I sketched out the words/images on the canvas. While it wasn't perfect, an outline with a fine tip sharpie and cleaned it up substantially.

Then, like a dummy, trying to cover up the pencil lines, I gave it one more layer of blue paint. This, of course, smeared the black sharpie. So, after I'd gone over the whole thing multiple times with a black paint marker (that black Elmer's Painter has gotten a lot of use!) I ended up having to touch up the whole thing with blue paint to hide the smears. Also, I don't know how to make the letter "B." I'm not sure what to say about this. 

Now my colleagues walk into my office and watch as they read the first half with pleasant smiles on their faces, then look utterly horrified as they get to the bottom. This is usually followed by, "Did you make that?" This, I'll admit is not a compliment, and makes me want to try again and learn how to make B.

But still, I get an eventual smile out of everyone in my office, and I get to say, "I made that" and feel very witty. You know what they say,