Imperfections

Life isn't perfect.  It doesn't always work according to plan.  And it doesn't always provide the right environment to help you achieve your goals.  That can be frustrating at times.  An example is me trying to complete my pet portrait diploma.  It should have been completed a long time ago.  However, since I started it, I've moved house 9 times!  I started my painting of 'Inca' in Canada. I'm completing it in the UK. Between then and now, I've lived in 3 different homes.  During that time, my brushes were either packed or I couldn't find them, or I just didn't have the energy or conditions to get the acrylic paints out.  'Inca' remained hidden among my pieces of art.

 One thing I have learned in all the change I have been through, is to not give up.  After being in our current house in the UK for 4 months, with suitcases unpacked for long enough to feel relatively 'normal', and a place to put my developing artwork, I pulled 'Inca' out from her hiding place.  Her half-completed eyes looked up at me as if to say, 'Please'.

She was given place on my easel and I set to work to complete her.  After months of waiting, she is almost done.  Like life, she is not perfect.  I can find errors in my painting.  But it doesn't matter because in the midst of life's challenges, she is an achievement. 

When she looks at me now, she tells me the story of the past few months.  She tells me that although things can be frustrating at times, that although circumstances are not always the best, and although things don't always happen exactly when we want them to, if we don't give up, we can achieve something wonderful.