I completed this painting a few days ago, but couldn’t take a picture as my camera was on loan. The Brownie is from Panera Bread, and believe me, it was difficult not to pluck it off the plate and eat it, instead of painting it.

I’ve already written how much I love the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Originally I was going to paint one of her poems, written on parchment and laid over one of the books, but in the end I inscribed the sonnet onto the journal. I have many such journals. I keep them, writing down the details of each day, so that I will have a testimonial in future years to satisfy myself that I acted as the protagonist of my life. I think we all feel at times that the obligations and distractions of life are engulfing the self that matters most to us.

Here’s the Sonnet:

That Love at length should find me out and bring
This fierce and trivial brow unto the dust,
Is, after all, I must confess, but just;
There is a subtle beauty in this thing.
A wry perfection; wherefore now let sing
All voices how into my throat is thrust,
Unwelcome as Death’s own, Love’s bitter crust,
All criers proclaim it, and all steeples ring.
This being done, there let the matter rest.
What more remains is neither here nor there.
That you requite me not is plain to see;
Myself your slave herein have I confessed:
Thus far, indeed, the world may mock at me;
But if I suffer, it is my own affair.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay

Vincent and the Chocolate Brownie, Oil on Canvas, 10×10, Sold