Painting No. 119 - Life and How to Live It

5" x 7" - Oil on Canvas Board
NFS

Here's a little painting of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I think I was about 16 years old, sitting in a literature class, bored out of my mind when we were told to read Self Reliance. I got about a paragraph into it before it started to sink in and the entire world seemed to disappear.

Now, telling a 16 year old to embrace their genius and trust themselves is a little like throwing a bale of catnip to a kitten. They eat it up. But, something clicked that day. My eyes were opened and I could see the world clearly for the first time.

I owe a lot to Ralph. He coaxed what is inside of me out. He let me know it was alright not to be on the basketball team, to be an artist, to sit down when everyone else was standing up. Alright to be who I am.