Redtree Times

It’s the time of the year when I take a slight pause and try to ascertain what the past year has brought and where the next year might head.  I often find myself going back through my files, looking at images of long gone but well remembered paintings from the past.  There are a lot of thoughts that come and go during this process.  I will see work that bring back strong memories of the emotions that brought it out from within and some that leaves me wondering where it came from, it seems so different than the work around it in the files.

Then there is work that seemed to be a constant in my body of work that suddenly stopped coming out at a certain point.  Boat paintings, for example.  They were a minor staple in my work through the mid-2000’s but around 2009 they suddenly stopped completely, save for a few ferry paintings.  I really have no explanation for the stoppage.  It just didn’t seem to need to come out over the last several years.

There is probably some psychological reasoning to be found but it doesn’t matter to me at this point.  Just seeing the work and realizing that they were a part of the body of work and may someday emerge again in some way is enough.  Seeing these pieces with some time past makes me look at them with a questioning eye.  Some are real anomalies that stand out among a crowd of colorful images.  For example, the piece shown here on the left, Night Glides In, is a definite one-of-a-kind with its serene blue tones and placid feel set against a lone craft, vaguely Viking in style, that is headed inland.  It could be the return of a warrior or fisherman or traveler or it could be something more ominous and threatening.

That possibility always comes to my mind when I see this image even though I personally tend to see it in more congenial and positive terms.  More homecoming than home invasion…

Another painting from about the same time that also draws my attention whenever I am skimming through is this piece, Time and Tide.  I always have to zoom in to take in the texture.  The texture in my pieces seem to shift and change over the years and the texture in this piece is different than that in subsequent years.  Maybe it was an alteration in the way I prepped my surface or a change in material but it gives this piece a distinct signature in that texture and in the perspective of the incoming ship within the picture.

Looking at these boat pieces brings back influences and thoughts that have faded a bit in time, making them seem rejuvenated with the passage of years and the gaining of new experiences in that time.  I can see a boat or two floating back into my work in the new year.

We shall see…