They Are Almost Done

All year I have been working with senior/4th year painting students, and I have grown to care about them deeply. Today was their final class session with me. I was sort of a distracted wreck today, between my show preparations and other situations, but we painted from my favorite model and I just sort of hung with these soon-to-be-released young artists.
Few have any firm plans for their futures. I empathize–remembering how my life was at 22 (yes, dear readers, I am older than 22), straight out of college, having to make decisions for the first time in my life. I think I worked for almost 20 different employers in LA that year, from a Hollywood theater (loved it) to a pseudo-pornographic film studio (grossed me out) to a graphic design house (hated it) to a decorative house painter (who was also a professional body builder). I crashed my car, I loved and lost, I partied too much, and decided to get the hell out of the Westside.
Oh, my sweet Turkish students, how can I save you from the pain of being an artist? It is not possible. And it doesn’t seem to get easier with time, at least not for me.
Tomorrow we are going to Antalya. I hope I feel better.