The Accidental Artist &Tourist
So let’s see. Celebrating what brings us joy. Hhhmmm….well, stories always get me. And my favorite story of his was about how he started painting. He said he had just bought his house by the mountains (but ten minutes away from the beach…how cool is that) when he realized he needed art work on his bare wall. Upon seeing some CD cover in his house (he didn’t tell me which one), he went to a paint store, asked for what he needed and literally picked up a brush for the first time and made a replica of the CD cover. When he went out to have the thing framed, a famous artist (he didn’t tell me who) noticed and complimented his work and asked who had painted it. He was stoked to say that he was the artist and that it was his first painting. Ever. Soon after, a real estate agent who saw his original work on the wall of a house his parents were selling wanted to buy his pieces and commissioned him to paint new ones. He sold 50 or more paintings during that time for varying amounts of money. No formal training. Just gumption and a paint brush. I really loved hearing him tell me that story. Check out his work. The third one is my favorite. He said he hasn’t painted in awhile though.
breakfast at billysniki
Rhapsody
spring idyll
Flowerworks
I loved it too that I was able to hear this story, while he was sitting on my couch in my apartment and not while we were Gmail chatting one freezing afternoon in Coffeebean Burgos Circle. It made it more special hearing him talk about it – gestures and all — face to face, after watching “Zombieland.”
What else…okay, running together one overcast morning was pretty epic too. It was something we both wanted to do and am so glad we ended up doing it on his last day. The run helped us just be. It was a lot of fun and it felt natural going around Banaba Circle together that Monday morning. It didn’t feel like some person I just met a month ago, flew all this way to meet me, my friends and my family just because he could. It felt more like two good old friends going for a run instead. It was pretty cool. I thought he was nice to slow down his pace so I could keep up with him too. He denied it often but am sure he must run faster than that at home. I wish we took more pictures of the trees and the streets though. And less sweaty head shots of me while driving. But yes, running together is certainly up there with my favorite things we did during his whirlwind trip.
Last but not the least, my most favorite thing was when he surprised me while I was reaching for my Gorillapod to take our cheesy self-timer pictures. I won’t forget it. Unexpected. Knee-buckling. Wonderful. Mind numbing. Natural.
These are definitely things that make you go … win.
grateful slice: our favorite things that make us happy
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