Redtree Times

Night Falls– Coming to the West End Gallery

“That’s the place to get to—nowhere. One wants to wander away from the world’s somewheres, into our own nowhere.”

–D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love (1920)

Our own nowhere, as Lawrence put it, is the basis for much– well, almost all– of my work. Years ago, I gave my nowheres the title of Internal Landscapes. They’re not meant to represent any one place, any of the world’s somewheres.

They are where they are, existing only on their surface and in my mind and that of the viewer.

Actually, they often remind some folks of real places, not so much in the reality of those places but in the remembered feel. I have written and spoken about how many people have said that the paintings remind them of home. This always intrigues me because so many of these people are from a wide and diverse range of homelands.

I am pretty sure it is not the representation of a particular landscape or climate that brings on this feeling of home for them. I think it’s more of a level of comfort that they find in the work, something that establishes a distinct emotional connection reminiscent of their concept of home.

I don’t know why I try to explain such a thing. It’s almost always a fruitless effort.

I should just stay silent here in my nowhere, far removed from the world’s somewheres.

If the paintings want to talk, they are free to do so. That’s on them.

This painting, Night Falls, is one of those nowheres, one I am always pleased to come back to. It satisfies me on many levels which is all I can ask of any piece. MY OwnIt is included in The Jubilee Dance, my 25th solo exhibit at the West End Gallery that opens on October 16.

I am in the midst of getting everything, including this painting, prepped for the show.  I feel very good about this show and think it will look great on the walls of the West End Gallery. It’s going to be a race to the finish as I have been experiencing some physical glitches in the last couple of days that are slowing me down a bit. But, one way or another, it will get done.

For now, I am reluctantly back in the world of somewheres as I prepare my nowheres for the show.

Here’s a song whose title fits this painting very well. It’s Far From Any Road from The Handsome Family.