Middle Road Shadows

“Chance favors the prepared mind.”
John Fowles, The Magus

This is a throw back
and a throw forward.

We spent most of the fall of 2018 on the island.
The extended stay allowed for deep diving into painting subjects
as well as the opportunity for serendipity to come out and play.

I wrote a bit about this in the Painter’s Notes for The Flock which was painted shortly after that fall visit.
After years of chasing the right light to capture the iconic view of sheep grazing on the farm field overlooking Lucy Vincent Beach, chance favored this artiste with an almost biblical parting of the storm filled skies to open up shafts of dramatic autumn colored sunlight just as I was driving past the overlook.

It took my breath away and I quickly captured the moment with camera and sketchpad.

 I had been making a daily loop at sunset circling up island roads in a random pattern watching and waiting.
To be in the right place at the right time you have to keep showing up in the wrong times.
A lot. In this case for decades. And you have to be open to taking chances.

So, after I had enough to be going on with for the sheep composition, I figured might as well finish the loop. I drove back to Beetlebung Corner and took a right onto Middle Road. I’d been studying those cows and trying to come upon them grazing       closer to the road to get a better look and to give some foreground to the vast composition of field and sliver of sea. In the 6 minutes of light remaining from that epic sheep view, the cows who were grazing in that same light and only a few fields away were smack up against the wooden fence as I drove by.
I zipped right back around at the gas pump and caught them looking.

But here’s where the Muses like to tease.
Back home in the studio there was a choice of which painting to start off with and I decided to go big and all out with the sheep. I hoisted an 8 foot panel up on the easel and set out to try and portray the grandeur of the light on the vista and the grace in the peacefulness of the flock. It was a marathon and took up the remaining time I had to prepare for that year’s show so the idea of a twin companion painting of the herd was put on what I thought would be a brief hold.

Until it got thrown forward 5 years to today.
Painting now in my new studio, the Muses said wait a minute…remember those cows ?
If, as they were originally meant to do, the flock and the herd ever got to hang side by side
you could stand in the middle and be that glorious sunlight.

You, dear patrons, are my serendipity.

Chilmark Ceide

This painting
is by way of walking backwards
in a circle.

Retracing steps along my path
to here.

I have it in mind to make my way back
to the beginning.

When I first met the island.

Which was by way of
the gift of Lynn.

You can find most of the breadcrumbs I’ve been leaving
sprinkled throughout my paintings.

It’s all there
if you know where to look.

Some of the signposts I’ve left
are bolder than others.

This one is positively screaming
at the top of her joyful lungs…

I was here.

Reduced slowly and with a wild patience
like the simmering of a fine balsamic glaze
the essence of camp, for me,
will always be Lynn’s spirit.

And like the foundation of the island itself
the embodiment of her soul, for me,
is that Chilmark wall.

She was its tender caretaker.

It was her mission and her meditation
to clear it every year
of the entwining vegetation.

Whose mission it was every year
to further obscure
those rugged faces.

Those ancient maplines of New England.

So as I work my way back
I’ve begun to reach out
and to play around the edges.

I’ve been dancing around this idea
that in order to tell the story
to do justice to the monumental opening
in the fabric of my time
which was her introducing me
to the Vineyard
I would need to paint her wall.

I want it to be big
bigger than life
like Lynn’s life always was.

But the muses seem to want me
to come in sideways.

Gently gently.

So this year I made a start.

The wall in Jane’s Crow is a little sliver.

And this one the next
only a little bit more substantial
and with a sidestep
which the Muses threw in my path
by way of Krista Tippet and an episode of OnBeing.

She was interviewing the nature writer Robert MacFarlane
primarily about his new book, Underland, A deep time journey,
and the conversation wound its way to the image of
“the ghost hand”.

I knew instantly when I heard his description
that I had my way into this painting.

Actually, until that moment
I had no idea that this WAS going to be a painting.

It literally sprang onto the easel.

When it happens like that
I jump right the way over and let it flow.

I’m still circling
but this is an important pebble on that road.

The oft painted line of white rocks
has been fortified
with one single stone left
to keep us safe on that bluff.

The sea still rises beyond
but viewed only through the lacy openings
like those of the ancient laid Celtic Ceide.

I’m going to transcribe the original quoted conversation here
and let you sit with it for a spell

A hand …
reaching across time…
and into the future.

OnBeing – ep. 962 Recorded in 2019
Robert MacFarlane

    “There is one image at the heart as it were of Underland, and OF THE Underland, which is the hand.
The open palm, the stretched fingers, and that we know first, is in a way the first mark of art.
The maker would place their hand on the cave wall and then take a mouthful of ochre, red ochre often,
and then spit the dust against the hand and then pull the hand away and so you leave the ghost print.
And, for me, (it is) that hand, that open hand, that is reaching across time, that is pressing against rock,
but leaning also into the future, but also the hand of help and collaboration…and I found it everywhere.”

Over and Under

All of the knots
over all of the years
the lobsterman’s hands remember.

All of the waves
the tides and the drifting
beat in the fisherman’s veins.

Setting the bait
and lunging the gaffe
the muscles can do when their sleeping.

But never a gale
‘er blew out at sea
could wither her salty remains.

Special Gifts…

As the spring flowers bloom all around the studio yard, I am reminded of all the season’s holidays, and weddings that will be just around the calendar’s corner. If you are looking for a unique gift for that someone special…

The Basket Weaver

I hope you will consider selecting a print from our new Etsy shop.

There are lots to choose from for that gardener you love…

Blossom

and the sports lover…

Tea Time

the woodworker…

Tea-With-the-Tools

the artist…

The Beginner

that beachcomber…

Beach Rose

who loves to read…

Book-Mark

and yes, even your favorite tea drinkers…

The Tea Party

All prints are signed by…me.

And, for all my blog readers, I am sweetening that tea with the offer of a SPECIAL COUPON

just type in this code…

HNBlog2013

and you will recieve FREE SHIPPING on all orders.

Coupon will be good up until July 21,2013 (Which just happens to be the opening day of THE GRANARY GALLERY show this year !!! )

Happy Spring and, as always, thank you…I am so grateful for your support,
Heather