Dear Shannon,
I own an original painting of yours and have for some time — my best guess is eight or nine years by now. It’s a lovely painting of a bunch of flying pigs I discovered at Portfolio Art Gallery in Five Points in Columbia, South Carolina.
I have no idea how you painted it, what inspired you to paint it, or when you painted it. What I do know is that the first moment I saw it; it spoke to my heart. And it has done so every day since then.
I admired it long before I owned it, in the days when I could barely make the rent and car payment. Then one day I went to see it and it was gone. Many months later I was back in the shop and asked if there might ever possibly be another one — knowing all the time the answer would be no. But the answer wasn’t no. Turns out, someone had been test-driving the painting at home and the pigs were coming back to the gallery the next day. That’s how your pigs came to roost with me.
Your painting has been a gift in my life for many years and I am so grateful to have it. It’s one of my most cherished posessions. Thank you for creating it.
Sincerely,
Julie Turner
The Thank You Project is a Wordsmith letter writing and blog project. I’m recognizing and thanking people who enrich my life and make my community an even better place to live.