Left Behind Trilogy

Somewhere there are three right gloves and an organic onion trying to find their way home.

Recent Acquisition

The above painting was purchased with discretionary funds from a local establishment at a very reasonable cost. I suppose buying a painting cheap is to be expected considering the current state of the art market. The establishment is not a gallery per se, but they regularly carry a few paintings, prints and photographs. They also have a wide selection of records, books, house wares, bric-a-brac, skis, a large pile of children's bikes, washing machines, stereo equipment, tools and clothes.
But the painting: This piece is a departure from other paintings in my collection as the bulk of the permanent collection consists of paintings with animal motifs like a woodpecker, a deer or a caribou being attacked by two wolves. Moving into the world of collecting figurative work is exciting. I find I can look at this painting for hours while I invent complicated narratives that help explain how the two figures ended up hanging from a cliff. But I will keep my speculations to myself and let this painting do what it does best – provoke thought.

Slow Down

I am listening to a woman speak in slow motion. At some point in life some people slow down. Some people really slow down. “He’s the genuine article,” she’s saying. Unfortunately, no matter how slowly I write, I cannot convey how slowly she talks. What I can do is tell you that I am fascinated by the slow, deliberate way she speaks. And the phrase, “the genuine article,” is a nice one. As a clerk in a fish market, I had a customer who was between 80 and 100 years old. When it came time to pay, she slowly opened her checkbook (it might even have been a cheque book) and then she apologized in advance for how long it was going to take to write the check. “It’s ok, take your time,” I told her. And then she proceeded, in beautiful, old-fashioned handwriting, to fill out the check. I told her it was worth the wait.

I call it old-fashioned handwriting in part because it took her two full minutes to write the check. It is a rare person these days who spends that much of his/her time writing a check. I write checks so fast you’d think the check was in boiling water.

Resolutions

Exercise more, share my interests with other like my nutcracker collection for example, cross-country ski more, do not take up smoking. I can't think of any thing else. Happy New Year!