Dave and I definitely live a Split existence. Not split, as in separated. Split as in duality. Our work-a-day lives at Lowes and Lourdes and the rest of the time that’s supposed to be devoted to art. I’ve been going through some struggles this year trying to give that other half of my life some momentum, to keep the paintings happening. But it’s been tough.

I know Dave has been having similar feelings. And it is just hard to get your energy flowing when there’s so much time spent in other more pressing pursuits. Or so they seem.

But I still believe that our creative selves are our best selves.

Today there were a whole crowd of people — literally — who invaded our home as part of a planned event to see Lower Town here in Paducah by a group called The Collectors Club from Mt. Vernon, IL. They had contacted us a couple months ago and had a scouting trip to check us and other galleries out. Today was the real deal with more and more people trooping up our porch stairs and on into the house until we were quite crowded in here. The cats scattered. People were a little shy at first, until we’d talked a bit to give them the lay of the land and assure them that it was perfectly ok with us to wander through our house and look at the paintings. Most all of which are for sale. And eat the food on our table we’d laid out expressly for them.

Soon, I looked about and we had little groupings of people chatting together at various places and presumably feeling more at home. They stuck their noses to the paintings and watched Dave do some batik demoing. I took stock of the cats who resurfaced after about 15 minutes. And I sold a couple paintings.

We had a little debriefing after the dust had settled and the stampede had left, along with their two paintings. We were a little dazed and definitely a lot delighted. We wished we saw more of these kinds of folks, and we agreed that we’re always thrilled to find people so interested in our work that they want to take it home. It’s a fantastic feeling to see someone walk out with your work nicely wrapped and know that it’s going to a home where it will be loved and cared for. It gets to grace other people’s lives. That’s how we share our thoughts, our joys about this world.

That’s how we give our best. I might be painting with a little more levity tomorrow.