I spent the remainder of the morning working. I was determined to finish the painting with the gull, which I’d decided to call “Freedom.” The gull in the air over the water, floating on the breeze across a vast blue sky represented such freedom, I couldn’t have called it anything else. When I added the final brushstroke to my masterpiece, a little after one in the afternoon, I stepped back to admire the completed work. For a moment I was captivated by that gull. In my mind I briefly felt the exhilaration and sweet liberty a bird like that must feel as it soars over oceans blue.
Naturally there were tears. I wiped them away, though they continued to fall, and moved my painting to another easel at the back of the studio to dry. There was no sense of satisfaction. No joy for a job well done.
