Sharing one's work

 

I originally wrote a post to accompany this painting two weeks ago. I thought it was an interesting and insightful post. I shared it with a couple of friends, writers of whom I respect their respective talents and opinions.

I reread my post like a proud father.

Later, I looked at the post again and found it much less interesting and insightful than I had originally thought. In fact, I found it thin, boastful and generally badly written. The aforementioned friends/writers never made any comments about the original link. They either bit their tongues or shook their heads, respectively. Or both.

I took the post down, rewrote it, removing much of the original material and re posted the edited version. A short time later I reread the post; still I was shocked and mortified by the arrogant voice I found.

I deleted it again.

Writing, like painting and many other media, stands in evidence of itself.

I met this young woman modeling for a life drawing class. She was a firefighter. She was also quiet, and slightly withdrawn. Shy. 

I completed at least two good paintings from the photo shoot (a matter of opinion, sure). Chances are good I will go back into the photos at another time and work on more; one of the great options one has when working from photos.

As is often the case with student models I have not seen her since.