A butt joint is the simplest one to make. It’s also the weakest.

You can buy premade panels — completely prepared for painting — and it occurs to me that one might call this “cutting corners,” when actually you are doing nothing of the sort. 

It was only through trial and error that I learned how to make panels for painting. It was tempting to just butt the two pieces of wood up against each other. Making the 45 degree angles took time. Patience. Sanding. Sometimes filling the cracks. But I found even with slight errors, these joints were so much stronger. And when I finished the process, the seam almost disappeared — the wood one fluid piece. Painting is then the reward. 

We all have acquaintances — these butt joint relationships. And they’re fine… But to have real friends, friends with whom you’ve taken the time…this is something spectacular! The intimacy of error cannot be replaced. It makes us stronger. This melding of corners, sometimes so rough, can be so beautiful. To know someone, really know them, and come together, so close you can barely see the seam —  this is true friendship. And the rewards – living color!

Whatever I decide to paint on this panel, I know the corners will hold. May we all have such a friend.