I promise to get off the canal path soon, but I am having fun with all the possibilities. I walked 45 minutes towards Lambertville, and then turned around heading back home. This big puddle covered the entire path near Church Street. I have been reading Czeslaw Milosz lately. The following is from the poem Bobo's Metamorphosis, section V:I liked him as he did not look for an ideal object.
When he heard: "Only the object which does not exist
Is perfect and pure," he blushed and turned away.
In every pocket he carried pencils, pads of paper
Together with crumbs of bread, the accidents of life.
Year after year he circled a thick tree
Shading his eyes with his hand and muttering in amazement.
How much he envied those who draw a tree with one line!
But metaphor seemed to him something indecent.
He would leave symbols to the proud busy with their cause.
By looking he wanted to draw the name from the very thing.
When he was old, he tugged at his tobacco-stained beard:
"I prefer to lose thus than to win as they do."
Like Peter Breughel the father he fell suddenly
While attempting to look back between his spread-apart legs.
And still the tree stood there, unattainable.
Veritable, true to the very core.
Substitute canal for tree. I like "accidents of life" and love the line "By looking he wanted to draw the name from the very thing."
3 comments:
To have spent your time studying and drawing and painting this canal, so patiently and with evident joy, is an amazing thing in these times of rush, hurry up, 24/7 -- I bet many of us envy you that, and perhaps should try to do something similar rather than dip and dabble, here and there? Thank you!
Kelly, Thanks for your comment. I think everyone has something like a canal nearby. It may take a while to get wrapped up in whatever it is, but the persistent study is always worthwhile.
Bob
Like you I am and have been doing a series of works around our local lake where my husband and I go walking weather permitting much of the time. As long as I can walk and as long as I'm here I will walk it. It is a beautiful, inspiring time for me. Very nice painting.
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