Finish of Samy's portrait

I finished the portrait of Samy today at the gallery. It was so good to paint again there. Before yesterday, it seems like it had been weeks.
Today there was a Festival of India in La Villita, in Maverick Plaza next to me. So I got to have a wonderful lunch of sag paneer and rice and was enjoying all the bright saris and the music... when suddenly a very loud rock band started up on the other side of the gallery in the garden of a restaurant there. On top of that, another South American band, complete with those great Pan flutes and xylophone-ish instruments started playing just on the other side of the church on my courtyard. Yikes! It was a great cacophony and I just had to breathe through it and focus on conversation with my visitors.
I know I've mentioned before how much I enjoy talking with the visitors to the gallery, but let me tell you again. This world is just chock full of the nicest people! I learned about Bernese Mountain dogs from a fun woman who is a dog show judge, met a wonderful woman who's a sculptor and lives in a nearby town, talked with several lapsed artists who left the gallery encouraged to practice their arts again in some way, talked with many, many parents who were on a Spring Break vacation with their children and talked with many children about their drawings. On top of that, I got to paint the last three hours of the day! Life is good.