Conversation: a Fictional Account of the Past Two Years

A Very Short Story


Peavy didn't want to hear about it so I draped my jacket over the extra chair and got to work.

It dawned on me as I surveyed the Post-its and piles on my desk that my ups and downs weren't necessarily synchronous with the world around me. A kind of cold comfort at first; ultimately fear: half out of the abyss, but still disconnected from the ground.

Peavy thought he'd been there, been through everything, done it all.

I knew mine was far worse than the standard litany of travails: divorce, custody issues, money troubles, sure, but always in the pervasive context of irrationality, of madness, of uncertainty. I was pretty beaten up and unpredictability was about the only thing I could count on.

Peavy asked to borrow my stapler and I impassively handed it to him.

I thought: I should feel better, I ought to be fairly reveling in a week without fireworks, but realize I've come to expect the curveball whenever I'm momentarily inclined to look dead red. And I've been flailing wildly at breaking balls, regularly missing the mark. I can't square up to anything and just want to play the game alone.

Peavy had gone.

THE END

Today is so last week

Shock goes away; awe persists. That pretty much sums up art and perception to me.

Caratunk scene

#7

Respect gesture. Don't abuse it but use it when you can. Be bold but thoughtful.

#6

Know when you're done - and not simply based on time spent (quick may be enough).

Ninigret Kayak (different take)

Ninigret Kayak

East Beach #4, slightly altered

words to live by

Vivid, subtle and complete.

Touisset Return

sometimes a story can be simple

East Beach #3 - sold

Woods Edge Clearing, Kent

Where I'm Coming From: Back to Nature

One of my objectives is to depict nature as I experience it on some level, reaching for something transcendent - something that isn't merely a slavish re-creation of a scene for which a photograph might suffice. Whether working from a sketch, a photo, a memory, or some hybrid of memory and imagination, I usually paint scenes that are absent the obvious imprint of humanity. Sometimes this entails removing people or their things from a beach scene, for example. Sometimes there's a story; sometimes just a glimpse of a scene intended to evoke deeper memories and appreciations of a natural world we too often turn our back to....

Woods Edge Window

Out of the Muck...

Kent Grove # 2

Late Sun, Stockton Harbor

Kent Brook, Late Spring, v. 1

Bridge to Cape Jellison

Placid Harbor, Stockton Springs

The Open Road

East Beach #1

wide roots

one of many on cardboard - dig the corrugation

A Clean Escape (this one's at the Wooden Midshipman in Warren)

older drawing - Kent woods

#5

Repetition gets you somewhere, then the real work begins. Avoid artistic masturbation.

#4

Finish the piece and then accept opinion; and then move on to a new one. Linger not.

maxim # 3

#3: Your best work is what you do for yourself. Learn to see it, hear it, feel it yourself. 

View from Burnside Bridge

calm waters, somewhere in Maine

Rapture on Cardboard

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The Other Side of the Brook

Oregon Seastacks

Three Trees (Oregon Seastacks)

Last Stand

a tough one to photo

better photo

#2

#2: Eclecticism is fine as long as it's not an excuse for laziness. Do your thing(s) but stay focused.