What a world it was this past year. Whew.... If ever there were a God who took the time to look after this earth, I imagine she would shrug her slender shoulders and sigh softly.
"What can we do about humankind?"
She thinks to herself.
"When they come up to see me at the end of their lives, I always ask each of them the following question:
"So, how was heaven?"
"Most them (usually the adults) look at me dumbfounded, but the children always smile and say "It was great!!"
But here on earth, I just keep working at the beach most afternoons. Perhaps these pictures don't change much, as a friend once noted to me, but I don't worry, I just show up there like an old miner, hoping that tomorrow will bring me an emerald or a ruby. Either one would make my day but in the meantime, there's always a lot of paint to mix and apply. I never know what'll happen out there but it's a lot better than being in Kiev, or Gaza, or so many other God-forsaken places around the globe. What is the matter with us all that we put clowns and villains into office like Trump and Putin? This is on us.
But here anyway, the show goes on, as they say. We've had a lot mercurial skies these past months which I appreciate, though it has sometimes kept me from getting to the beach. So far the weather hasn't been super hot nor humid but I expect it'll sure arrive soonish.
The top and bottom pictures were both re-painted as I had brought a few older canvas boards that displeased me from last year's crop. Of course, the point of these sessions is to get 'nail them' in one session but I don't. I like it when I can 'get it', but as ever painter knows, images, like dogs and toddlers, don't always come when called forth. But hey!
So, I may now begin re-working many older paintings which 'Father Time' has let me know that they're just not as good as I had hoped. But when the sky looks promising I'll continue taking older boards out with me to see what can be done to them.
At any rate, this top one repelled my valiant efforts and it was sinking just like my heart. I was just about to lather it up with some gooey-looking colours from the palette and surrender when rather miraculously, I managed to make some sense of this mess. I left it and packed up my things at the beach in the dark. I looked at it the next day with a little surprise, for despite its mess, I kind of liked it.
Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 23 December 2024, oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm
Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 23 December 2024, oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm
