“To be invisible is to be forgotten… To be a symbol, and an effective symbol, you must be vividly and often seen.” (Walter Bagehot, quoted by Gary Younge in The Guardian.)

What propels me, a mildly reticent recluse, to put my thoughts, feelings, and imaginings before the public is a yearning to be seen and not forgotten. My process is to persist over time exposing what’s personally meaningful in hopes of earning a modicum of notice from others who sail these waters.

A model of social interaction that I revere is the classic French “salon.” Small circles of friends would meet regularly in someone’s house to converse, sing, recite, philosophize. Cultured women often hosted and shone in these gatherings. They nourished a rich epistolary literature from the likes of Madame de Stael. The blog, for me, is a digital analog of the salon.

(Copyright 2018 James Mansfield Nichols. All rights reserved.)

HJN2001W Cowboy on Bucking Horse. Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in. Framed, signed, 2005. $450