Relaxed tension. Two parents at a national chess competition. Their kids squared off at the board, and so did they — one leaning back, shoe propped up, trying for calm; the other sitting stiff, watchful. The game played out in more ways than one.
Somewhere out there are a bunch of butterflies having a conversation about whether they've ever landed on a human, and one of them says "Yeah, it's an acquired taste."
Will it always be like this? Whenever he tries to love me, will it be just an attempt?
This feeling is what I try to represent with the drawing, the tallest and most beautiful flowers are the negative thoughts towards my body and my person; the withered ones are the positive ones, which drown before the greatness and strength of the others.
I got to drop into an outdoor class with my beloved teacher from the studio. A space had finally opened up two weeks before everything in SF shut down again. Well, it was good to see her and my fellow students and be in that setting on a beautiful sunny day. I was also negotiating my next job salary and getting phone calls during class, so I wasn't entirely present. The class topic for the day was palm trees. This is in front of the De Young, another place I was so glad to have visited indoors on another afternoon before the latest lock down.
A Cloud, a Tree, a Star. Illustration of St. Brendan (Naomh Breandain in Irish) for Tolkien's poem, Imram (https://englewoodreview.org/poem-the-death-of-st-brendan-j-r-r-tolkien/).
