the right path
20 September 2020
Today is one of those days when I feel like I’m on the right path.
I look through the window and see dusky purple leaves shivering on the gnarled and mossy plum tree. The sky is overcast. It feels like home.
My pen scratches the pages of my sketchbook while I sit at our dining table. I take a slurp of my coffee and let my thoughts settle. They’re racing, flitting from one task to the next. The kids sit in the next room attending “remote school”. The dishwasher gurgles in the background. Art ideas swirl in my head. And I rush to capture them in words and sketches.
Shortly, I’ll climb two flights of stairs to the unfinished attic to log on to my full time job. The job limits my time for art. However, it grants me ultimate freedom to do any art I desire because I don’t worry about making a living from it. I get to just do it.
That may sound like I make art for “fun”. But I don’t. I paint because I must. I am a sad gray version of myself when I’m not creating. I feel robust and full of color and connection when I paint. When I’m moving forward with my paintings I am alive and truly me. And at this moment, I am fully wrapped in my art. I’m free.