A canary in a coalmine

As the coal mining industry flourished during the British Industrial Revolution, leading miners to descend into underground mines carrying canary cages. This is because the miner becomes dangerous when the canary, exposed to minute toxic gases that people do not feel, stops singing.

Artists, who are the shortest life in boom times and who are the first to be hit in a recession, are no different from the lives of Canaries.

When some paintings were sold at the end of the economic boom, my husband and I paid off credit card debts. But we were directly hit by the recession before saved money. At least It's a good thing we've settled credit card debts.

So most parents would have been very opposed if their children will want to go to Art College. I'm sure most of my friends who want to be artists had argued with their parents. There are friends who became doctors and physicists without overcoming their parents' opposition. Those who have an artist as a friend often talk about the arts they wanted to do.

These friends are always busy going to work in the morning and leaving in the evening to maintain a stable life. As an artist, we work in the studio from 9 to 5 after a long trial and error. As artists, we can freely spare time but have no fixed income. Suddenly, we get a big income or there may be no income for a long time.

We live a precarious life as if we were approaching the light in the dark, hoping it wouldn't go out. Amid fears that toxic gases in coal mines may seep in and our lives may be ruined.

A call came from the junior. "Are you going through a recession?" "It's hard, but I am happy to live as an artist. It's a job I chose because I like it, and I can't let it go. I have to hold a brush in one hand and a credit card in the other and wait for the day of glory. I won't regret it even if don't see glory." Still, she is still young, so it seems difficult to escape from the drug called painting.

The first snow falls. "Shall we eat out since it's snowing for the first time?" As we look into the menu in front of the Japanese restaurant, memories of the days when we was suffering from a credit card debts that we couldn't shake off.

Japanese food is delicious while looking out the snowy window and eating. The whole world is getting more and more white in the dark. As soon as the warm Sake goes in my stomach, my head got like peppermint candy. Shoot~