It’s been quite a full day. I had a lovely lunch with my mentor, John Ross Palmer, which I really needed today because now that the DC paintings are done, I was feeling restless and untethered. I did have a few ideas about what to do next, and I really needed to run them by John. I also needed a good laugh. I’d sunk into one of my little pockets of sadness, places I go to sometimes for no reason, or maybe just because I get overworked and lonely. Anyway, I feel better now.
In the afternoon I went to help a collector install a painting that means a lot to me. My Galveston Ship Channel, which I’d painted for my solo show, and which was featured in the Escapism 2018 Catalog. It had been wrapped in wax paper awaiting its arrival at its new home for months now, so seeing it was like seeing an old friend. Take that, pockets of sadness! It’s so amazing for me to see my paintings in people’s spaces, to realize that they make an impact, bring people joy. Something stuck with me that John said over lunch today, and I will try to do a better job internalizing it: “You don’t realize how much power you have.” I will try to be better about this, about remembering that my paintings contain powerful magic that I put into the world, and about being grateful for it.
Also, John installed one of my DC pieces in a collector’s home this morning and sent me this picture. I love the way he placed it by the mirror.
Later, in the evening, I tried to channel my magical powers into painting a scene full of sunshine and happiness, one of my Seaside commissions, an adorable little girl at the beach. I have two more watercolors in this series to paint tomorrow, also a long walk my friend and I have been meaning to take for a while. Hopefully by the end of it all I’ll feel a lot better.
