While complaining about some coworkers, a dude I had just met told me, "They're really boring people. They'd rather stay home on a Saturday night and put a puzzle together than go out." I didn't really feel like I knew the guy well enough for him to throw his coworkers under the bus like that. Maybe we could have talked about football instead of badmouthing people I didn't know. It was an awkward moment. I've never been one to put a puzzle together, but after getting back to Mississippi, I decided I needed something to get my mind off the job hunt and all the other shit that has developed as of late. Perhaps my life is boring now because I put a puzzle together, but whatever. I went into my closet and found one that I'd be given as a Christmas gift a couple years ago. It's of Jacques-Louis David's "La Sacre de Napoléon" (The Coronation of Napoleon). This painting is one of my favorites. It's now in the Louvre, where I've seen it a few times while living in France. David originally wanted this painting to be the largest of its kind in the world, but it is just slightly too small. The largest painting is actually in an adjacent room only a couple dozen yards away. For me, the coolest part of this painting is how David painted Julius Caesar into the scene behind Napoleon. While drawing the first draft onto the canvas, David had Napoleon leaning back and crowning himself. But later, David decided to paint Napoleon crowning his wife, Josephine. Where Napoleon's head was, Caesar is watching the whole affair. When I saw the painting in person, I could stand very close to the canvas and see the faint outline of Napoleon's head faded into Caesar's face.
Day 1.
Day 2.
Putting the faces together was the easiest bit.
Day 15.
Once I got the faces together, I struggled putting all the
dark areas together, especially the curtains and carpets.
Day 19.
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