This Week in the Studio

The end of spring brought with it the death of a very dear friend of mine. Cancer took her life. Patricia was without a doubt one of the most influential women in my life. Everything wonderful that has happened to me in my adult life can be traced, at some point, back to her. There has since been a lot written about Patricia since her passing, one of my favorites being THIS eloquent dedication written by one of her former students. Patricia's memorial celebration was at the end of May in Central California at the theater where she and I became friends, worked together and collaborated on artistic dreams. I did not attend. Now as I look back, I'm dismayed by the fact that I didn't move heaven and earth to go to her memorial. I can't believe I didn't just say "screw my obligations" and go... but for whatever reason, I didn't think I could make the trip.

I'm still grieving her loss. And now I'm grieving my poor decision to stay put and not embark on the journey to her memorial. This week, as a way of saying "good bye", I held my own memorial to my friend. Just me and her and some quiet time. Then, I painted this...

River Samsara - 18" x 24" acrylic on canvas

River Samsara Detail

Dr. Patricia M. Troxel