Chap­ter 79 of All the Col­ors of the Dark spans a peri­od of three weeks, dur­ing which Patch finds him­self fre­quent­ly vis­it­ed by Sam­my. These vis­its are marked by in-depth con­ver­sa­tions about great artists like Car­avag­gio, Frans Hals, and Paul Gau­guin. Sammy’s dis­cus­sions are not only about the art world but also about per­son­al expe­ri­ences, blend­ing his thoughts on artistry with insights into the nature of cre­ativ­i­ty itself. How­ev­er, while Sam­my is caught up in these philo­soph­i­cal mus­ings, Patch remains deeply immersed in his own work. He strug­gles with self-doubt, pour­ing his heart and soul into his paint­ings, try­ing to con­vey emo­tions and expe­ri­ences that feel too over­whelm­ing to express with mere brush­strokes. Sammy’s alco­hol depen­den­cy becomes more appar­ent, as his exces­sive drink­ing adds a lay­er of ten­sion to their inter­ac­tions. Despite his per­son­al issues, Sam­my con­tin­ues to push Patch to stretch his artis­tic bound­aries, even tear­ing a can­vas in frus­tra­tion when Patch fails to cap­ture what he con­sid­ers the essence of the sub­ject. This marks a grow­ing rift in their rela­tion­ship, as Patch feels both the weight of his own inse­cu­ri­ties and the con­stant pres­sure to meet Sammy’s expec­ta­tions.

As the weath­er tran­si­tions from the cold grip of win­ter to the more hope­ful warmth of spring, Patch adopts a lifestyle of qui­et ded­i­ca­tion to his art. His focus inten­si­fies, almost becom­ing monas­tic in nature, as he iso­lates him­self fur­ther to con­cen­trate on his work. He keeps a low pro­file in the gallery, stay­ing out of sight of the women who fre­quent­ly vis­it Sam­my, ensur­ing that he isn’t dis­tract­ed from his artis­tic pur­suit. Despite his ded­i­ca­tion, Patch’s emo­tion­al life becomes more com­pli­cat­ed, espe­cial­ly when it comes to Misty. His feel­ings for her are conflicting—he desires to con­nect with her but feels as if he’s being increas­ing­ly left behind in her world. As Misty’s life seems to evolve around her own plans and social engage­ments, Patch can’t help but feel dimin­ished in her pres­ence. He is unable to bridge the emo­tion­al gap between them, and this sense of iso­la­tion only deep­ens as he remains focused on his work. The pull of his artis­tic ambi­tion is unde­ni­able, but it also caus­es him to neglect his per­son­al rela­tion­ships, espe­cial­ly with Misty, fur­ther com­pli­cat­ing his emo­tion­al state.

At Sammy’s request, Patch is giv­en a new respon­si­bil­i­ty in the gallery—managing it rather than sim­ply clean­ing. This shift in duties marks a change in their rela­tion­ship dynam­ic, as Patch becomes more involved in the dai­ly oper­a­tions of the gallery. While the respon­si­bil­i­ty gives him a sense of finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty, it also increas­es the com­plex­i­ty of his posi­tion with­in Sammy’s world. His role evolves from being a pas­sive par­tic­i­pant to some­one who is active­ly shap­ing the envi­ron­ment around him, yet he is still bound by the expec­ta­tions Sam­my places on him. Patch’s inter­ac­tions with Saint, who occa­sion­al­ly vis­its the gallery, are telling. Despite her pres­ence, he remains large­ly unin­ter­est­ed in her per­son­al changes, his focus entire­ly con­sumed by his art. Saint’s evolv­ing life seems to be of lit­tle con­se­quence to Patch, as he con­tin­ues to pour him­self into his work. He briefly engages with the women who vis­it the gallery, dis­cussing Sammy’s future and lis­ten­ing to their casu­al inquiries, but these exchanges feel shal­low and dis­con­nect­ed from his deep­er emo­tion­al strug­gles. Sammy’s refusal to acknowl­edge Patch’s artis­tic growth leaves him feel­ing unval­i­dat­ed, yet he push­es for­ward relent­less­ly, ded­i­cat­ing him­self to per­fect­ing his tech­nique. The cre­ation of por­traits, espe­cial­ly of Grace, becomes a cathar­tic release for Patch, as he chan­nels his grief and long­ing into each stroke of the brush.

The arrival of sum­mer brings with it the cul­mi­na­tion of Patch’s efforts, though not in the way he might have antic­i­pat­ed. After months of intense work, Sam­my dis­rupts Patch’s process and declares that the paint­ing is fin­ished, regard­less of whether it tru­ly cap­tures the essence of Grace. This marks a piv­otal moment in Patch’s jour­ney, as he real­izes that the cre­ative process is often not about per­fec­tion but about com­ple­tion and let­ting go. The art­work, which he has labored over for so long, is now a reflec­tion of both his artis­tic growth and the emo­tion­al tur­bu­lence he has faced. Sammy’s abrupt dec­la­ra­tion forces Patch to con­front the lim­i­ta­tions of his work and the expec­ta­tions that oth­ers place upon him. For Patch, this moment rep­re­sents both a vic­to­ry and a sur­ren­der. He has learned to nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of his craft, but at the same time, he must also accept the uncer­tain­ty that comes with it. The chap­ter clos­es with Patch’s per­son­al evo­lu­tion, not just as an artist but as some­one who has learned to rec­on­cile the emo­tion­al forces that shape his art and life. He has come to under­stand that growth in both art and life is not always lin­ear or pre­dictable, but rather a series of moments that force one to con­front their own doubts and fears.