Never Give Up!

     One of my friends told me that she had a surprise about one of my drawings: her husband got it tattooed on his arm!

   Anyone who knows me knows that I'm happiest when I am sketching. I most often sketch animals, and love to do drawings based on real-life experiences, especially funny ones.

   I did this drawing for my friends shortly after visiting their home for the first time. They offered to let me take their new horse for a spin... and he started running and spinning and trying to throw me off. Apparently, he objected to having a completely inexperienced rider on his back. And who could blame him, really? It became a running joke that their horse tried to kill me. And I did this drawing of the horse, whose name is Bud, charging with all the fury you'd expect from someone named Bud. This particular drawing was in response to this factoid that someone at work shared about the incredible speed of a text. I surmised that Bud is still faster.

   So, back to the tattoo. Unfortunately, my friend's husband has serious health problems, and has been struggling mightily this year. I'm fortunate to say that I've never experienced anything near the magnitude that he has, but I know from experience that even short periods of recovery from illness or injury can be both physically and mentally exhausting. Dealing with daily pain must be incredibly frustrating, and the struggle can wear you out. So he decided to get a tattoo of this particular sketch: his horse, Bud, running hard and blowing smoke. He said that when he sees it it's a reminder to dig in and keep going even when things are awful.

   I wish that my friends weren't enduring such a struggle, but I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am that my work inspires him to keep fighting. It is one of the biggest compliments I have ever received, for my work to mean so much to someone that they want it to live with them, forever. Blessings to my friends!