Visual Arts

Trading Pictures

Recently my fiancée Kim ordered this print from etsy.com (basically a worldwide craigslist for homemade art) called “Home Sweet Home”:

It depicts a young couple idling happily in their home: the girl knits, attended by two cats, one of whom admires her asymmetrical hair; the bespectacled guy plays guitar. The print represents an ideal to which young, hip couples consisting of a guitar-playing guy and a cat-having girl should aspire. In other words, my fiancée bought the print because it reminded her of us.

However, I possess a document which enables me to counterbalance her revisionist account of her opinion of our relationship. About a year ago we challenged ourselves to trade drawings of each other. My drawing was unremarkable and disappeared long ago. But I saved her drawing:

That’s me, wearing a Metallica shirt, holding up a taco and a guitar, while Kim (wearing an “I’m Kim” shirt) kneels and holds up the Oxford Latin Dictionary and the “Greek Book on Stuff” and complains that her arms hurt. To my left is my 5150 guitar amplifier, labeled “MC’s lil Baby.” Above us, a nice sunshine.

I should probably be glad that she hasn’t made a drawing like this recently and now instead sees us in the idyllic couple sitting content in their home. Maybe it represents growth and increased maturity on my part, or at least more moderation when it comes to guitars and tacos. This will, I hope, contribute to a continued happy engagement and a loving marriage.

To find the Home Sweet Home print, go to etsy.com and search for the seller “rosiemusic.” To receive a drawing like the one depicting me, contact Kim, offend her on a subconscious level and ask her to draw a picture of you.

© 2008 Obsolete Vernacular.