Exploring the world of painting!

Hey everyone, 

I'm sorry for not posting in a while again, I know I tend to do that allot, but in my defense, things have been getting pretty hectic in my house, and I barely have time to breathe. But, what I have found time for was to talk about this, what I'm talking about today has been really important to me since I started working on it not to long ago. It's a painting for a really good friend who's helped me through allot, I feel like we connect with each other to the point that we basically read each other's minds. I know it sounds strange, but, this project is for her, and when its finished, I hope she likes it! How this started was a few weeks ago, when I was at my friend Skylar's  house, and I got a chance to meet one of the most talented painters known to man! His name is Dario. Dario told me I should try to paint, and for a while afterward I was a bit apprehensive to do so. He advised me to begin small and simple, for instance, a bowl of fruit, or simpler, an apple. Of course, knowing me, when the moment arises and I want to do something, I will do it no matter what someone tells me. So one day, after meeting up with my friend, I got the most powerful sense of inspiration I have ever felt. It overcome me so much that it caused me to do something absolutely unheard of. Yet somehow, it seems that doing things on impulse, isn't so bad if done in moderation. Sometimes the adrenaline of it all is just what you need to push you out of a funk. So, all of you are probably wondering now, what is this crazy thing I did? Well, I asked my mom shortly after I left my friend's house to pull into the mall parking lot so I could go to the craft store. She asked why but I refused to tell her, it was almost as if these crazy ideas I was having pulled me into a trance. Going into the craft store I hurried for the back, where the stored all their larger canvases on racks. I grabbed a canvas the with the size 30 x 40 (inches). This is a fairly large canvas (Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is a size of 30 x 21 inches.) By then my mom thinks I've gone completely mad, and the fact that almost never lifted a paintbrush in my life most likely scared her more. Of course I insisted, and the canvas and supplies for my mystery project were bought. Now, I am working on this project, and am farther then my mom ever thought I would get. I never even thought I would've gotten this far. Half way through this painting and it has been going amazingly for me. It doesn't even seem like I am the one painting it, it feels as if someone else takes my brush to the canvas while I just sit and watch. The process has had it's ups and downs, don't get me wrong, but for the most part this could have gone much much worse. I could've painted horribly or worse yet, worn my canvas down to nothing and be left with a large hole. I am grateful that nothing of the sort happened so far, and I hope that my good luck with this very important project continues. For now, here is the work in progress of the painting, keep in mind I had no reference for this, just my sketch that can be seen clipped to the canvas in the photo: