Notes from the Field: Even Artists Need Art

"She has decided that at Christmas she will frame up a bunch of her old works and start giving them away."

 Today I bring to the hospital beautiful vintage wallpapers that a textile designer friend of mine donated.  So, now I have  lovely beads, the collab' project, nice paper to paint on, great watercolor sets, and vintage wallpapers - let's go!

First, I meet a beautiful woman with long grey hair who is just starting treatment and tells me she is an artist too! She tells me she hasn't been able to make art lately or even talk to her other artist friends so she would love to make something with me. I learn that she used to be an art director for a prominent magazine and we chat about that and the economic climate for creatives right now.

Then she tells me this amazing story when she was flicking through a magazine years ago and saw a beautiful image of a statue, a torso bathed in yellow light. She tore it out and kept it. Years later, she was working on an article about breast cancer and thought of this image. She wanted to use it in the article but could not find the photo credit anywhere and ended up using a similar stock photo. Then some years later, she was in Italy and went into a Museum. She told me she came around the corner and there was the piece, the torso, bathed in yellow light!  

We continue to talk about her art, or lack thereof these days, and she tells me about her stomach cancer and how it has affected her. She has decided that at Christmas she will frame up a bunch of her old works and start giving them away.  She is so positive! I am amazed that even under trying circumstances, there are people that still see the glass as half full. This puts everything in perspective.