Vulnerable Violet

People say 'I was vulnerable' like it's a bad thing. Vulnerable just means that you're capable of being physically or emotionally wounded ... so the opposite of vulnerable must be cold and unfeeling, which seems like a far worse thing to me. But it happens. Having been emotionally wounded, Violet toughened up and became the opposite of vulnerable. Now she was working on letting her guard down a wee bit. But as you can see from the strained look on her face, she's not having an easy time of it.

Violet was created yesterday while watching Starting Out in the Evening, a 2007 movie about a grad student writing her thesis on a once-great and now ailing literary author who'd been working on the same novel for a decade. After 10 years of following around characters only to find out they weren't doing anything interesting, someone advises him to let go of the novel. "That would mean starting over," the author said tiredly. "I'm not quite sure I have the strength."

As we learn, however, it's not really a question of strength. If you have enough passion for something, strength will follow. But maybe there's another necessary ingredient ... My favorite line from the movie: Perhaps it is vulnerability which the artist needs above all else. Finally, vulnerability gets it's due.

Dropped Violet at Birch Park this morning, because trust me, nothing will make you more vulnerable than walking the beach and then around that track in what feels like 105-degree weather. I miss winter, even South Florida winter. Maybe I should develop a cycle where I paint all summer, and hide tiles in the winter.

I've been thinking lately that I'd write about what prompts me to keep hiding tiles. I was going to write something when I hit the one-year mark, and then when I hit the 100-tile mark ... but I just never did get it off the back burner. Then Rick @ South Florida Daily Blog invited me to participate in one of the 3-Question interviews he does with local bloggers. So finally, off the back burner. It's right here. Sometimes all I need is a deadline. I don't know why I put it off for so long. It was actually fun to write.