I first painted the brain suspended by strings to a pole (the brain parallel to the ground) and achieved horrible results requiring complete removal of all paint and primer and starting all over again.

I then tried painting the brain by setting one face of it on the ground, like a poised triangle, and painting the two exposed diagonal sides. When these two sides were dry, I rotated the triangle and painted the remaining side, which was still at a diagonal. This method was better, but still resulted in runs and sags.

Finally, I realized the extreme importance of flat surfaces. I simply seated the brain in a cardboard box as you see above. When one face is complete, I simply rotate the brain and paint the next face. The top and bottom can be painted with the brain oriented normally on the ground. This enabled me to achieve satisfactory results.

I now understand what they mean by the old expression "three times is a charm." This should be amended, however, to state "After three devastating, humiliating, and embarrassing failures, you might achieve success if you can learn from your errors."