Celebrate

There are exactly as many special occasions in life as we choose to celebrate. ~Robert Brault

Today I celebrate much less pain after friends praying for me yesterday. I can celebrate that God loves me enough to move heaven and earth--or at least rearrange doctor's schedules--so that I will not have a surgery I don't need. I can celebrate the sunshine and the possibility of an early spring. I can celebrate that I am almost finished with the portfolio and can move on to creating a real art project. I can celebrate that my troubles are puny compared to some of the suffering I see in others. I can celebrate prayer.

This painting, Cottonwood, is one I did in college, my teacher was sticker about working from a sketch instead of a photograph, so I sketched a dead cottonwood tree in Palo Duro Canyon, (Texas) I remember my husband with with me that day, and that it was a pleasant time. Since my painting teacher didn't really teach, I struggled with the background, but there happened to be a Charles Russell print in the class and I borrowed some of the landscape from that picture and made up the rest. Teacher never noticed; he liked to hole up in his office and drink.