Monday, February 4, 2019

North River, Marshfield

North River, Marshfield, MA, 2019 20"x20"

The ghost has been vanquished.  It was good to paint a bit larger and use my entire arm to apply paint, not just my fingers as the tiny bird paintings require.  I must give Emily Katherine credit for her photograph that provided a reference source for this painting.  She informs me that the exact location is behind the China Wok in Marshfield.  

Mary Oliver died last month.  Such a great poet...an artist's poet.  With respect and in recognition of her work, I post her poem, The River.

The river
Of my childhood,
That tumbled
Down a passage of rocks
And cut-work ferns,
Came here and there
To the swirl
And slowdown
Of a pool
And I say myself–
Oh, clearly–
As I knelt at one–
Then I saw myself
As if carried away,
As the river moved on.
Where have I gone?
Since then
I have looked and looked
For myself,
Not sure
Who I am, or where,
Or, more importantly, why.
It’s okay–
I have had a wonderful life.
Still, I ponder
Where that other is–
Where I landed,
What I thought, what I did,
What small or even maybe meaningful deeds
I might have accomplished
Somewhere
Among strangers,
Coming to them
As only a river can–
Touching every life it meets–

That endlessly kind, that enduring.