Ode to the Ampersand

I just finished a painting that's been sitting on the floor of my office for about 3 months.  I was excited at the beginning when I got the idea, stalled out for a while,  then suddenly got inspired to finish it last week.

The idea of the word "and" appeals to me on so many different levels.  It's such a small word, full of so much potential.  I think it could just about stand alone as a life philosophy.  On the other hand, when you distill it down to one small character, "&", it becomes beautiful on a simply visual level as well.

Perhaps I'm guilty of overthinking things just a tad.  But then, that's the whole idea of a blog, right?  At the very least, I think it's good to stop every once in a while and consider our words.  "And" is such a more compelling word than "or", don't you think?