Redtree Times

Journey and Light– Coming to the Principle Gallery

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

I didn’t want to write this morning, worried that I would begin to spout angry opinion that would serve no purpose. But, supposing that I can retrain myself and feeling a sense of obligation, mainly to my work, I will push onward.

I am in the last couple of weeks of painting for my upcoming show, Depths and Light, at the Principle Gallery, opening June 3. It’s always a hectic and nervous time, filled with both elation and extreme doubts. I find myself loving and doubting– and loving and doubting again– each new piece, sometimes within a matter  of minutes.

It would be so much easier if I didn’t give a damn.

I guess that could be said for most things.

But I do care about my work, about my expectations for it and how myself and others perceive it. By expectations, I mean that I want the work to have some level of meaning and purpose, even if it is only discernible to me.

The new painting at the top is part of this show and it fills those expectations. It is a 16″ by 40″ canvas that I call Journey and Light.

The meaning I attach to it is very much in line with the lines above from William Blake. Each iota, each part of this natural world, ourselves included, is a reflection of the whole.

We come from stardust after all.

It should be a simple thing to realize but we spend our lives chasing other ends and purposes which end up being trivial and meaningless in the end. We chase and chase and come to a point where we see that all that matters is within reach, is found in the understanding that we can, as Blake points out, hold Infinity in the palm of our hand and see heaven in a wild flower.

And that’s the sense I get from this painting, that emerging into an opening where the sun rises on the far horizon, we realize that our chase for things and beliefs has been futile. Everything we need is in that sun, the gras that surrounds us and the dirt beneath our feet.

It sounds too simple, I know. You most likely will say that life seems far more complicated, that this understanding gives no real answers for our day-to-day questions and concerns.

And maybe you’re right. But maybe we need that understanding in order to find momentary escape and clarity.

Respite from the chase. Moments of peace and quiet amidst the din and chaos.

Maybe that understanding allows us to feel as though we are standing in that sunlight, feeling the breeze on our face as it comes over the hills and across the grasses.

That’s the sense I get from this piece.

And that’s enough for me this morning.