The Coming and The Going

The Coming and the Going

That has come to signify this era for so many.
Writ large or writ local
some of the shiftings have been tectonic
while others mere whispers of change.

The Painter’s Notes for Unhinged…

(Which you can read by clicking on the image above)

…well that journal entry sets the scene for… The Going

This painting gives you the harbor’s perspective
of this particularly seismic change in the town of Menemsha.

In Menemsha all manner of vessels and humans
are constantly in the pursuit of both…

Coming into port
Going out to sea
This gentle village is always in motion.

On this day last October there was a fair bit of going
as Larsen’s Fish Market was being demolished
to make way for a new version of that special old salt.

If you take the time to compare with Unhinged
you will see that in this composition
zoom in closely…
that dear blue painted hinge still holds fast
and there is just this one last corner of wall
left standing.

As in all artistic endeavors
the artist is free to edit.
I have gently done so here
removing most of the heavy machinery
and repainting the green dumpster.

For years now I’ve been looking for a way
to bring that great big landing net into a painting
ever since I found it washed ashore on Stonewall beach.
It was hopelessly beyond use for a fisherman
but I loved the brokenness and it has been reminding me
as it leans against my old studio stairs
of the power of the sea.

So it was sorta fun that here
in proportion to the old and now broken fishing shack
it could stand tall and represent.

Over the decades
of studying those rhythms
of steady comings and goings
I have learned
that while there can be stillness…

those spaces in between

…there is always some manner of change
on the horizon.

Coming to the end of a year of sometimes brutal
and always jarring shifts in our world
there is wonderful and joyous change on our horizon.

This week the concrete is to be poured
securing a literal foundation
for my new studio.

That great big light at the end of the long tunnel
coupled with the shipping off of this year’s worth of paintings
for next week’s Granary Gallery show
has afforded me one of those precious
moments of in between.

My spirits are lifting
and the peace is familiar
and kind.

At rest finally
with both
the going
and the coming.