Keep on painting

Starlight II
acrylic on canvas
12 x 16 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009

I wish I'd known what I know now when I was younger.
How many times do we think that in one day? What
I know now is that when times are tough, when the
world is sad, when hard things happen, keep painting.
It was a very sad beginning to the day today, with Mitch's
funeral. But it was also beautiful in a way. The rabbi didn't
pretend it was okay for a very young man with two
young daughters to die. He said it straight. No one
could give a good explanation about why a great
young man like Mitch should get cancer.

And at the grave site, there was no fake grass, just
a simple coffin lowered into the cold, wet mud, and
his wife and daughters shoveling in the first earth.
It was raining and freezing cold today. Tonight I
decided to work on a painting that has challenged me
for a couple of years, and I think I'm getting a lot
closer. This is what I do. Or one of the things I do,
and maybe one of the more important ones. I
paint. I don't mean to be morbid, and if you read
my blog consistently, you know I'm not. But looking
into that cold wet hole, and watching the mourners
holding their umbrellas and shoveling the dirt in
over Mitch was sobering. It is time to get on with
it. I am not immediate family, or even in the close
circle of friends Mitch had, I am one of the 400
friends in that synagogue, and his message would
be the same -- love your family and friends, and
do the thing you do.

Have an honouring-what-you-do day.