Color is the breath of life
As I fade when it drips away
You take your brush, your time, your love
And paint me each and every day...

This is my first full piece of 2016. I dedicate it first to my partner in crime, Eightspades, and second to those who strive to bring color to those who lose it so easily.

I think sometimes the hardest thing about mental illness is finding people to support you through it, and take pride or believe in their own power in doing it. As I once expressed in my piece 'Exhausting Love' ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3224499/ ) it's no easy task to care for someone with a mental illness. It's a whole other task to see what a difference you make, and realize what an aw-inspiring accomplishment it is to take a person into your heart who can be so destructive to themselves, and the world around them at times. Using the tools given to you to be able to save someone is a talent in itself, and learning how to use these tools is part of growing along side that ill person.

Once again I stand here, seeing light in an otherwise faded world, because of the courageous act of someone willing to aid me in my journey to fighting mental illness. At this moment, Eight is more of a best friend than a lover to me, but we've the chance to grow, and that has everything to do with him never giving up on me in the thousand moments that I have. He is, himself, and artist, which inspired the piece. He's not just an artist because he can draw (wither he thinks he can do it well or not), but because he moves me - and that's what a true artist does - they move people with the things they create, and he's an important part of who I am now.

So, thank you, Eight, and thank you to those who have pushed, guided, and returned color to an otherwise faded world... as it's no easy task. ;)