Real Relationships

Over the past weeks, my wife, Beth and I have watched a few movies which portray relationships of various kinds.

Three of these movies are classic triumphs: To Kill a Mockingbird with
Gregory Peck, John Huston’s exposition of James Joyce’s The Dead,
Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in John Huston’s African Queen and
a movie called It’s Complicated with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and
Steve Martin. We solved the complications of It’s Complicated for
ourselves by turning it off. The complications of the other movies we
were aware of because we have seen them before, and plan to see them
again. These complications are part of us, and belong in us. Without
them, we wouldn’t be ourselves. I feel the same way when I see the
finest kind of artist and model relationships, both to each other and to
people who work with them. St. Paul tells us to “greet one another
with a holy kiss.” If we’re ready to do that, we’re ready to model and
ready to draw.

14/01/2011