Thursday, January 22, 2009

To create is to be alive!


Yesterday I worked hard at a watercolor painting. Since there was no school, and nothing urgent that needed attending to at work, I stayed home and slaved over a piece of paper for about six or seven hours. It was drawn and painted in that time, through dinner, through dropping off and picking up a child from practice, and watching Lost. The painting came out OK, not the best, but not the worst, painting I've ever churned out. Despite its mediocrity, I had the greatest feeling of accomplishment in at least believing it was good enough to do what I planned to do with it, to donate it to a silent auction to raise money for art education in my hometown's elementary schools. Two years ago I donated a similar painting, and it sold for $100. I know that's not very much in the artist world, but this was the first time any value had been placed on artwork I made. It was exciting to watch the bids go up and gratifying to know that someone would spend $100 on it. That's it in the corner over there. Those little objects are fruits and vegetables: from inside to outside, an orange, lemon wedges, red hot chili peppers, avocados, broccoli, bananas, eggs, apples, carrots, peas, mushrooms, eggplant, garlic, cherries and peaches.

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