Lessons Learned & Rushing

I finished the front column and the back of the middle column:


Back of front column



Back of front column



Back of back column



Back of back column (close up)



Front of front column



I learned a few lessons today.

Lesson #1: Communication is really important, and it's really up to me to make sure that everything is being communicated properly. I wasn't asking enough questions or anticipating questions well enough. For example, today, at least two people came up to me asking when I'd be done with the front and middle columns. They need to put their shelves up already and work on the poster rack. I thought it would be all right if I finished those tomorrow morning, but they informed me today that they needed to be done ASAP. I should have asked at the beginning, before I started painting, what the timeline would look like. Instead, I just assumed that I had to be done by Thursday, period. Also, I think that people just like to know what's going on, especially if they are investing money in the project.

Lesson #2: Take inventory before leaving every night. Yesterday I left without looking at what supplies I had left, assuming that I had overbought everything and I would be fine until the end of the project. Well, I ran out of matte medium today, which is probably the single most important painting item I have. Medium helps lower the viscosity of the paint so that it spreads better and so that I can use less. Medium costs $20 a tub, which is about 1/2 gallon, whereas paint costs $10-20 for a 50oz tube. I managed to finish the sky on the front and middle columns, but then I had to leave because I had run out of medium. I was planning on finishing the entire middle column today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Today was my longest work day on this project and my feet are killing me. Also, my left leg hurts. I realized today that I use my left leg on the ladder for all of the going-up and going-down grunt work. I tried to switch it up but I almost fell off. Poor leg.

One more day!