Death of an Artist

I read yesterday of the death of one of San Miguel’s more serious artists, a Mexican who was well regarded and well loved, from what I’ve heard. Even though I’ve never met him, I was deeply saddened by this news, especially because there are precious few truly serious artists left in San Miguel these days. But also because his death was sudden and no doubt he was working on a project that will remain forever unfinished. All passionately creative artists have more ideas than they can possibly put onto canvas, and we must all one day have our creative energy abruptly terminated by death. One day our creative output will be cut off and we will have painted our last picture and have no time left to say all we had wanted to say. It is not a pleasant thought -- it is in fact a very grim thought, but it should move us to produce all that we can in whatever time we have left.