I will not let you go until you bless me...

Today I felt like Jacob wrestling the angel in the desert -- literally. I have been working on a Nesterov version of the three angels at Abraham's table and was having enormous difficulty, as in two weeks worth of fussing with one of the angel's faces. Going back to it again and again, sometimes feeling like I was getting closer, then doing something to spoil it. This has been by far, my most difficult painting this year. Today, my eyes saw something they had not seen before, and it came together. Had I given up, and it was tempting to a number of times, I would not have felt the enormous satisfaction I feel at the end having discovered a new technique I can use in the future. I have been blessed by the angel I have been wrestling with! Another example of an icon having worked on me.