What is it to interact with someone,
If not to be presented with a mental canvas?
A canvas upon which one may paint a picture of an individual
Of course painting takes prowess, practice, and patience
And the exercising thereof offers a particular pleasure
But what to paint?
Often one paints an image to please
Like the reflection of a mirror in the eyes of a vain onlooker
Other times one paints an impression
A transformation designed to affect a certain mental mural
When the canvas is not blank
When painting with an old acquaintance, perhaps
Then one appropriates their own former work
Deciding what must go
Refining what may stay
And leaving the result for the artist's next instantiation
Each of these disciplines a pleasure in their own right
And they can be useful
When selling widgets and convincing senators
When making friends, or maybe more
But there is something quite simply beautiful
Something uniquely satisfying
About the simplicity of a self portrait