SUPAH-MAN (everywhere I go, there U are), 30x30
"Yesterday I installed 12 paintings for the opening of SuperfineDC today. It took 5 freaking hours—suffice it to say, there was a lot of math involved & the need to hang paintings so they could be replaced by others, if they sold.
Gratitude doesn’t begin to express what I felt as my guy took charge of the hanging, ignoring a pulled IT band & masterminded the whole art install…and we got home in time to watch the NATS WS game 6 victory. It was a great day.
So, in processing what it’s like to have someone support me so devotedly in my art adventure when it’s not his thing, to bring a great spirit & selflessness to it all, I thought more about my life’s journey.
I reflect…
My family was a mess when I was a kid—my parents didn’t notice the anguish they created and never were aware of who I was much less join me in my passions.
I’ve talked a lot about how that sense of being on my own shaped me—some for the better, as I am a strong and very independent woman.
In that same reflection, I had always wished my upbringing had more Brady Bunch and a bit less Twilight Zone. It took a great therapist to help me see that as an adult I was right where I should be. And to saddle up to the fact that you don’t choose the family you are born into, but you can create the family that is right for you.
And so I did. And while I didn’t have the mothering I longed for, I became the mother I always wished to have. That is beautiful beyond words.
So in creating the family I always dreamed about—supportive, sharing, being there for one another and speaking truth around hard things—my guy and I made some wonderful choices.
Many of my guy’s MBA classmates went on to Wall Street and became executives in large corporate entities. Together, we chose a simpler life and started a business caring for people with dementia. It was hard but rewarding work and having something small and local allowed him to be flexible. He volunteered at school, taught an after school science class, coached soccer and basketball and shot hoops with our girls’ friends when they dropped by. He relished it.
But he sometimes asked me if I wished he had gone the Wall Street/corporate route with large financial rewards (and frequent travel) and I never pause in my response because I couldn’t imagine having made a better life choice than we did.
We built our family to be all I could have ever dreamed of. And it has not been easy. We separated after one year of marriage, struggled through therapy to figure out our issues and learned to argue in such a way that (usually) there is no winner or loser. The relationship is raw and real and hard and incredible.
I share this to simply say, I feel so RICH. So much gratitude and today when I am able to express and share my art, I have my family right there with me.
IT’S NOT A "DREAM COME TRUE". It’s making deliberate choices, sometimes hard, in order to build the life you truly want.
So I diverge from talking about art because so much of me is in every piece I create. It’s my journey…crafted by me.
Just as in painting—if you don’t like where your life started or where it is, paint over it until you do. There is no limit on Re-Do-s.
Here’s to crafting a life of RICHNESS…Namaste’
Painting done in homage of my guy: SUPAH-MAN (Everywhere I Go, There U R)
Gratitude doesn’t begin to express what I felt as my guy took charge of the hanging, ignoring a pulled IT band & masterminded the whole art install…and we got home in time to watch the NATS WS game 6 victory. It was a great day.
So, in processing what it’s like to have someone support me so devotedly in my art adventure when it’s not his thing, to bring a great spirit & selflessness to it all, I thought more about my life’s journey.
I reflect…
My family was a mess when I was a kid—my parents didn’t notice the anguish they created and never were aware of who I was much less join me in my passions.
I’ve talked a lot about how that sense of being on my own shaped me—some for the better, as I am a strong and very independent woman.
In that same reflection, I had always wished my upbringing had more Brady Bunch and a bit less Twilight Zone. It took a great therapist to help me see that as an adult I was right where I should be. And to saddle up to the fact that you don’t choose the family you are born into, but you can create the family that is right for you.
And so I did. And while I didn’t have the mothering I longed for, I became the mother I always wished to have. That is beautiful beyond words.
So in creating the family I always dreamed about—supportive, sharing, being there for one another and speaking truth around hard things—my guy and I made some wonderful choices.
Many of my guy’s MBA classmates went on to Wall Street and became executives in large corporate entities. Together, we chose a simpler life and started a business caring for people with dementia. It was hard but rewarding work and having something small and local allowed him to be flexible. He volunteered at school, taught an after school science class, coached soccer and basketball and shot hoops with our girls’ friends when they dropped by. He relished it.
But he sometimes asked me if I wished he had gone the Wall Street/corporate route with large financial rewards (and frequent travel) and I never pause in my response because I couldn’t imagine having made a better life choice than we did.
We built our family to be all I could have ever dreamed of. And it has not been easy. We separated after one year of marriage, struggled through therapy to figure out our issues and learned to argue in such a way that (usually) there is no winner or loser. The relationship is raw and real and hard and incredible.
I share this to simply say, I feel so RICH. So much gratitude and today when I am able to express and share my art, I have my family right there with me.
IT’S NOT A "DREAM COME TRUE". It’s making deliberate choices, sometimes hard, in order to build the life you truly want.
So I diverge from talking about art because so much of me is in every piece I create. It’s my journey…crafted by me.
Just as in painting—if you don’t like where your life started or where it is, paint over it until you do. There is no limit on Re-Do-s.
Here’s to crafting a life of RICHNESS…Namaste’
Painting done in homage of my guy: SUPAH-MAN (Everywhere I Go, There U R)
