Be remarkable 🍄

Once there was a sensitive, artistic woman who invested many years and much labour, and a not-insignificant amount of her hard-earned money, pursuing mastery of her painting craft.

There came an opportunity to mount an exhibition, and she worked tirelessly to complete a début collection that adequately expressed her point of view as an artist. A small crowd attended the opening, enjoying the atmosphere and the complimentary refreshments, and a self-conscious but heartfelt speech from the artist. Many commented favourably about the pieces on display.

After the exhibition a good friend, whom the artist regarded as intelligent and discerning, critiqued the show. “It didn’t captivate me,” said the friend. “And it’s perhaps too raw, and too personal, to be commercially successful.”

Crestfallen, the artist packed the pieces that hadn’t sold into her attic, sold her painting tools and materials, and entered the real estate profession, which afforded her a comfortable income and a respectable amount of savings to see her through old age.

Her friends, among them the amateur critic, sometimes remarked among themselves how the liveliness that had characterized her youth had somehow ebbed away, that she seemed shrunken. But her sensitivity hadn’t diminished and they felt nervous about bringing it up with her.

Decades after her death her house was bought by a young couple who discovered the carefully wrapped paintings.

Captivated by their raw ephemeral beauty, and the strange intimacy of the work, they hung them throughout the house, until a friend visited and insisted on exhibiting them in her gallery where they received acclaim from certain prestigious quarters 🍄