Thursday, March 7, 2013

After All These Years

Watercolor on 14" x 11-3/4" Daler-Rowney Langton Prestige NOT paper
"Life As a River"  (Click to enlarge)

Here's a tale:  Burger Chef was a chain that pre-dated the biggies, Burger King and McDonalds.  At our local Burger Chef, on A-1-A in the city of Satellite Beach on the Space Coast of Florida, the manager Bill M. didn't really know how to control the place.  The assistant manager would be running to the grocery store once or twice a week to buy something he forgot to order, like hamburger buns or meat, for example.  And the place wasn't doing well.

When McDonald's finally came to our small town, it stood only a block away from Burger Chef.  That was when Bill M. decided that it would be a good idea to buy the Burger Chef and turn it into his own place.  Now if Burger Chef wasn't doing well then, let me tell you, Bill's Big Burger wasn't going to do any better.  It failed within months.

But while Burger Chef and then Bill's Big Burger existed, my best friend Jeff and I worked there in high school.  Great fun.  We were good kids, but had our moments.  Once we showed up together drunk and sang "Cheeseburger in Paradise" throughout our shift.  Everyone stayed out of our way.  Another time we were closing the place together and started randomly throwing cleaning fluids into the mop water.  When a white poison gas wafted out of the bucket we fled the place in stitches.  Then there was the time that Jeff and I challenged two ladies that worked there to a tennis match.  We were good, but not at tennis, and we bought them their steak dinner.

I have a terrible memory.  Big chunks of my childhood, and of my life through high school and beyond is absent from my mind. So if you measure the days that I remember from my life then I am really 19 years old.

Yeah.

But I remember this:  Jeff and I hung out together, listened to music together, did side jobs together, went to each other's houses constantly, yearned for the company of the Scorpionettes (the objects of desire of all healthy young male citizens of Satellite High School), worshipped the Muppet Movie, and spent hours talking about life and everything else.  And so much more.

We grew to respect one another, and I knew him as a soul with a heart of gold.

So what happened?  What often happens.  We grew apart.  He went his way, I went mine.  Life got in the way.  It's only natural.

So it was a surprise when Jeff contacted me and said that he had been following my blog.  He said that he liked the two abstract pieces that I had done, which you can see here and here.  The first, "Organic/Inorganic" was my response to the news that a close family member had cancer.  It dealt with invasion, injustice, and vulnerability.  The second, "Mortality" was my response to the death of my employer of eleven years.  It portrayed the passage of life.

I considered them a series of two.

Now there is a third.

Jeff asked me to continue the series with a piece that would portray the "fragility of friendship,"

This was different for me, and quite difficult.  Whereas the others had sprung unbidden (one was actually from a dream), I had never attempted to intentionally portray a concept abstractly before.

This is a semi-abstract piece, I suppose, as I've used the analogy of a river for the lifeline.  This is consistent with the nature references in the other pieces, and it has the flowing and directional qualities of the others as well.

Each tributary represents the encounter with a new person (they with their own lifelines as well), and each adds a pattern which the main lifeline carries with it.  So by the time this life reaches a ripe old age, the pattern is very complex.  The person carries the vestige of all of the experiences and encounters he or she has had to some degree or the other.  The person is far more sophisticated by reason of these encounters than at the beginning.  These encounters have impacted the person.

I like the analogy of the river (and I toyed with many visual concepts), although it is not the most original, because it so easily illustrates this concept but also because I could visually represent by the land between, that the individual's environment (whether physical or through major life stages events) changes over time as well.

So thank you Jeff, for stretching your old friend just a little bit further after all these years.

26 comments:

  1. Wow Dan, this is really beautiful - both the painting and the sentiments behind it. How lovely to have someone special returning into your life. I have recently had my own experience of re-establishing contact with an old friend with whom I share great memories from youth. Love your posts!!

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    1. Thanks Wendy I am glad you like the paintings, the sentiments, and the posts. A trifecta!

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  2. wonderful painting...and yes, it definitely feels like a flowing river of experience and people. It's cool to read about your friend and your memories with him. It reminded me right away of a favorite old friend of mine and how much fun we had doing screwball things similar to what you described. The internet is wonderful because we can re-connect with people who would otherwise be relegated to the dark dark past. I don't know the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise". My friend and I sang "Lets get together" from the Parent Trap over and over until everyone around us wanted to kill us. Thanks for reminding me of that! We found eachother on the internet after many years. I hope that you and Jeff will stay in touch now forever! :)

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    1. Yes that would be nice. I am glad that I was able to bring back some of your memories. I can't believe you don't know "Cheeseburger in Paradise" -- you know, Jimmy Buffet? You need to find it on You Tube and listen to the words - very intellectual words. ;)

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  3. The river and its tributaries represents life and its twists and turns well. I imagine also stretches of calm flowing water, rough rocky parts and there's always a deep, deep bottomless pool where unknown creatures lurk! (Sorry I'm getting carried away)

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    1. I love it! It's all true. Is the river carrying you away..? :)

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  4. The first thing I thought of when I saw this painting was of a tributary river, flowing and winding. Always and forever changing. I am not sure how you got the effect you got but it is incredible.
    Don't forget to watch out for Cathy's unknown creatures lurking in the hidden depths.
    Stew.
    stewcrowther.wordpress.com _____________________________

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    1. How did I get the effect? Since I know you bought watercolors, and only for you, my friend, lean forward I am whispering in your ear..ready? Wax paper. Shhhhh. Tell no one.

      As for your other comment - yes, Cathy scares me sometimes and she's made some really spooky trees.

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  5. Well done! You bring back memories for all of us.

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  6. I loved the story and really enjoyed your series of three. For some reason the second one really evoked a strong positive response (as in OOOH!). I love the image of life as a tributary!

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    1. OOOH! I love it that you got an OOOH!! That does seem to have been the most popular of the three. Thanks!

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  7. Shirley Levine said: Loved reading the story - you guys really were little hellions, weren't you?

    The abstract painting is lovely and I especially like the little dots in the river/tributaries which adds so much texture. But, as with all abstract art, it takes an explanation from the artist to know what the inspiration was.

    After 30 years, I reconnected with high school girlfriends and we have great fun reliving memories. But we grew apart in ways that mean we have little on which to sustain a new friendship. That is in contrast to friends from college and medical school. Our adult lives diverged much less and we are able to resume the same closeness at any time. Fascinating to figure all of this out.

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    1. Hellions, that was us! The other nerds didn't know what hit 'em! ;)

      I think your comment about explanations is necessary. At an artist meeting locally I insisted that abstract art needed an explanation; another artist insisted none was needed. But I am convinced that if I published this picture with no explanation, no one would know what it was about and it would be looked upon as decorative, nothing more.

      You are right about growing apart after high school. The same thing happened with college friends (most of whom I never heard from again). But I wonder whether there comes an age where you hearken back to your essence, and whether folks then can grow back together. Who knows?

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  8. So...have you and your friend met face to face? Do you live in the same state? Could you resume your friendship and keep it active or are there just too many distances, both literal & implied to keep it going.

    I have not maintained any of my high school friendships, nor have I been to any reunions. Oddly enough, I have no desire to do either.

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    1. Years ago. We are going to meet again. We are actually in the same city and state by coincidence. I don't think I could resume a friendship on any substantial level though with anyone given my life as it exists at this time, and like you, it's not something I have sought. But if it happened, I expect it could be enriching.

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  9. Just brilliant--in concept and execution. Love it.

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    1. Brilliant. Brilliant. I am just going to let that word jostle around in my head a little while and sigh. Thanks!

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  10. What a story Dan :) It's not going to be possible for me to have an old friend just come to me randomly and rush me with a whole dose of childhood memories. My childhood friends were all... I dunno, I just lost touch with them. Great thing about facebook is that I'm able to keep in touch with my high school friends and college friends, almost all the friends I've made travelling around the world, working and living in different cities. :) Wonders of internet and social network, can't live without them!
    Oh yeah, great series :Þ

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    1. Alex you have kept in touch with your high school friends and college friends which is more than I have done! I agree that I cannot imagine life without the internet. Viva the internet!

      I'm glad you like the series, but that face you put there looks a little nauseous. ;)

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  11. Hi Dan, I think a river with its tributaries defines long term friendships quite well. I like it when paintings can have different interpretations and meanings, such as this abstraction. It stands on its own but takes on additional qualities after reading your story. The texture adds a subtle bit of visual interest too. Nicely done!

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  12. A great story and really well written, Dan. I must be honest, I'm not too clever with working out what abstract is all about, but with your description of your work I can really see what you have cleverly painted and can now understand and appreciate it. It's a great piece of work.

    I left the Air Force after 25 years flying and turned my back on it and began a new career(s). So when after 20 years I bumped into a flying-friend of mine (on the net)it changed my life considerably. I now travel down to my old Squadron each May, where I meet up with my old buddies. The squadron entertains us for a whole weekend including a 3 hour sortie when we act as a tanker and refuel UN (including USAF) fighters in-flight.

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  13. What a great effort, Dan. I kept looking at this one for a while, and am reminded of those microscope clips of blood cells coursing along through the veins. The textures are really engaging too. All the best. I have a buddy like Jeff. We started drifting apart at one point, so we intentionally picked January 1 of every year at 12:00 noon to get together and polish off all the leftover Christmas stuff--bottles of brandy, boxes of chocolates, cheeseballs, cookies, fruitcake, etc. And to top it all off, pickled herring, a good luck tradition from who knows where. Some years that was the only contact. Nothing so fragile pickled herring can't fix.

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  14. I love this one.

    One of my friends in the medical field told me this one resembles skin under a microscope. That's not what i like about it. Well maybe. I see both interpretations. And then one more that I will keep to myself.

    I think my other friend's interpretation adds another dimension to the painting. We are, in part, a sum of out collected experiences. And like you said, intersecting rivers that travel through us. The blue veins, returning blood too the heart, returning as new blood moving us forward into new experiences.

    The two different perspectives dovetail perfectly with the poem I wrote, "Tiny Pictures", which inspired me to commission this painting.

    My intent is to display this proudly in my office, next to your blog post. Then let others draw their own conclusions.

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  15. A very interesting paper, the spirit continues to blogging :)

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  16. Awe Dan, the good old days - Dairy Queen, Burger Chef, Jeff, mixed tapes, Blue Grass, banjo and BCC - to lost friends and internet! - glad I found your blog and to know you are still using your oodles of artistic talent I remember from the Telstar days

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