Tidal Tango

Tidal Tango
24" x 24" oil

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sometimes a place loses its lyric

Here in North Carolina we are in what is called an exceptional drought. When I was at Falls Lake over the holiday I stood on the spot where I painted "Flight of the Gulls" (shown in my previous post) two Decembers ago. The lake is literally evaporating before our eyes! And it reminded me how transitory the lyric of place can be. It has happened to me more often than I would like to admit where I have walked into a landscape where the painting is there before me fully composed only to return with my equipment to find that the tide has come in or the light has changed. I carry unfinished paintings around in my head because I lived all year with the memory of how the sun played off the marsh in early June only to return the following June ready to capture an incredible moment and find that a late summer hurricane has altered the landscape entirely. It reminds me that what I do is more than just take notes from nature, I need to score the entire symphony. And sometimes the majesty is so overwhelming it's impossible to absorb all the element before they move on. On a trip this fall to the Outer Banks I remember we had just set up camp as evening began to fall. As I reached the top of the dune of this magnificent beach the sky and sea were the most unusual hue of lavender that I have ever seen. I was so mesmerized and awed that all I could do was immerse myself in the moment and it's beauty. Try as I might I cannot capture the memory on canvas with the veracity that I require. A lyric by its very nature is dynamic and fleeting. How does one translate its essence to two dimensions?

No comments: