College Flashbacks

I've been working on Maria and Alex's painting lately, and every time I'm painting it, there's something familiar about it.  Yes, I've painted many a calla lily and fiddlehead fern, but that wasn't it.  No, it isn't the flowers.

It wasn't until I got to a certain area that I realized, "I've painted this before!"  Memory triggers usually occur with sound or smell, but I had a very strong visual remembrance....take a look.

This is the section that triggered the memory:

Here's where it flashed me back to:

Flashback to 10 years ago, 200 hours of painting and many overnight stays in the art building. This is a 6 x 6 foot painting I created for my college thesis.  Crazy, right?

Can you see the resemblance though and how Maria and Alex's painting would take me back in time? 

Close up of thesis painting

There are so many colors going on in one area that it's kind of like an iridescent rainbow effect.

I no longer paint like I did in college.  I've simplified my process and technique to be much more time efficient and a tad bit tighter.  I don't allow myself to see and paint every color of the rainbow like I did for this college painting...thus the 200 hour tag on it.  I often wonder what this college thesis painting would look like if I painted it today.  Would it be as interesting looking as it is now?  How long would it take?  Funny enough, I still have the printout of this piece, so maybe one day in my spare time I'll try my hand at a recreation.  Ha!  For now I'll just feel nostalgic while working on my current masterpiece.