It’s always good to know that I’m being thought of when I’m away. Or is it?!!
Case in point: One bright and marvelous morning recently, I rolled into the parking lot for another bi-weekly meetup of the Smith Mountain Lake writers motley creative crew. As is often the case, I was running a few minutes late because I seem to be stuck in a hypothetical time bubble where time runs five minutes slower for me than it does with the rest of the world. It’s one of those curious scientific phenomena that I’d love to understand better and I bet scientists will be mighty interested in. But it will have to wait for another day as I hustled into the building, down the hall and up a flight of stairs wondering the whole way if I should make a potty stop before waltzing in to the meetup with all the panache of a baboon at feeding time. I figured the potty could wait as I didn’t want to lose more time so I snuck in hoping nobody would pay my tardiness any mind when —bam— the leader of the pack laid eyes on me and said with glee, “Oh Bryan, we were just talking about you”. Yippee. Timing is everything whether it be show business or gossip business. Not that I cared too much about that before now. But this morning I had my sign that others really do think about me from time to time. I was flattered of course. Here’s what I saw when I walked in.
I knew full well why the group would be talking about me. Being the group’s artist and resident doodler, I am the group’s unanimous pick for illustrating the cover of an anthology of lake stories they are busy putting together. Tall tales and other fishy flap are coming in and the talk got hot and heavy about how to get this darn thing published with all detailed planning of a space shuttle launch. I’m sure glad others were taking care of the business end of things but they still needed my input on some matters as well as discussing what they all wanted for a cover. The final layout of the cover is supposed to incorporate a key item or object from every story submitted which I will then plaster into an illustration that publishers will drool over. Or at least has sure better. I don’t know how many stories are coming in nor can I guess what I’m going to be asked to draw. I’ve got one request already and maybe a dozen or so to come. Fortunately the job will be in black and white which will keep things simple. I can hardly wait to see what kind of submissions I’m going to get.
Cemeteries intrigue me for all sorts of reasons. For the plant lover in me I love cemeteries as many of them are a great source of seed, seedlings and cuttings from the abundance of landscaping that are often found there, especially the old ones. But there’s no ignoring the history that’s wrapped up with cemeteries too. I was walking around in the Lynchburg cemetery adjacent to the ball field where I found this little lady. A diminutive memorial to a young lass who died over a century ago, I thought it was picturesque and would make a fine subject for an on-the-spot painting. It’s not exactly a person but painting it up would give me some people practice I suppose and I had some time to kill anyway. I pulled out my journal and my paints and got busy sketching it out. The hundred-some years worth of patina and lichen that had accumulated on the statue gave it a feeling of timelessness but also made it hard to make out the details. And even harder to paint them! It took a few passes before I got this about where I wanted it. The day was getting late and the sun was getting low which really helped to light it up for a good money shot. I still have to work on my lights and darks I see but I think I’m getting better at controlling the light values of my paintings.
There’s an old farm near where I live where the original farmhouse has long since fallen in. All that’s left is the old stone chimney. It’s made from the natural rock in the area and I marvel how those skilled builders could take those field rocks and fashion them into a chimney that still stands the weather and the elements. But somehow they did and those hayseed inhabitants surely put it to good use by cooking many meals and keeping warm thru many a cold night while they were still alive. The stories that old chimney could surely tell if it could. The days of it holding a fire are long gone and now it sits as a silent sentinel of the woods watching as the local farmers continue cultivating the nearby fields just as they always have.
My final piece is a whimsical drawing I made while goofing around at Bedford’s Liberty Lake park. There’s a fair-sized pond located down at the bottom and it’s quite a draw for man and geese. Especially geese as there are often a legion of them paddling around on the water or going on goose patrols through the park. The artist in me finds them quite amusing creatures in their own goosey ways who seem to think about little else except eating and making a ruckus. Much like teenagers in that regard.
Sometimes a random shot, like this one, will catch my eye and I can’t exactly say why it does. Maybe it’s the composition and action going on. Or maybe it’s the ludicrous fluke of seeing something totally unexpected; like some mindless and hungry geese moseying around a couple of porta potties of all things. Not exactly a pairing that I would have come up with. I don’t know, it just struck me as weirdly amusing and maybe future comic strip material, I can’t really say. But I scribbled the scene down as I’d rather not forget the quaint moment I had in an otherwise unremarkable day. Who knows, maybe you’ll get a kick out of it too.
