The TV Did Not Turn On

At least one day out of every weekend, in this case a three-day affair, I spend the day rediscovering who I am. That day turned out to be today.

When I awoke early this morning, Taylor was staring at me, as he does every morning, patiently waiting for me to get out of bed so he could start his day. And this particular day, the sun decided to make his presence felt after going on vacation yesterday. Down the hill, thru the forest, our walk took us on a path back up an incline, and looking back down it provided me with inspiration for the rest of the day, reminding me what I was thinking a few days ago when I had also looked back down, “we look back, only to find out later that looking forward was the key to life.”

After we came back, I spent almost an hour each on drawing the two versions of this morning’s inspiration. One was painstakingly done with black, blue and red ink pens later washed with watercolours. The second with charcoals. They bookended my favourite piece of the day, my rendition of The Golden Gate Bridge, taking nearly an hour & a half to complete the ink work alone, and then a carefree washing afterwards with watercolours. I walked away really proud of this one.

While lunch was leftovers of my dad’s out-of-this-world, amazing, homemade chilli that I had pulled out of the freezer a couple days ago, dinner was time in the kitchen cooking spaghetti with a homemade arrabbiata sauce topped off with carmelized onions & garlic, steak (from Boboquivari’s) tips sautéed with Adobe chilli peppers, and cubed 5yr Gouda.

Afterwards, Taylor and I went for a walk under the full moon.

Coming home, I was once again filled with boundless energy I put to good use, concentrating now on my oil canvases, finishing another painting, touching up two more and starting a fourth. I find myself drawn to the images photographed in my head of my walks with Taylor, including recent trips hiking the Bay Area and Yosemite, as its themes dominate all my oil paintings, every single one with mountains and/or trees.

That made it seven paintings today – two watercolours, a charcoal, and four oil paintings. Cooked dinner. It was a full day! All with Taylor. All with music playing every minute. And not a moment with the TV on!

I fed my soul this weekend.