LOST LOVE #1: A SUMMER'S DAY, A TANGLED WEB

This was a very emotional painting, one that I finished in one weekend. Betrayal, anger, disappointment. The slide show below shows the process - starting with Shakespeare's Sonnet XVIII. This was recited to me over 2 decades ago, while perched above the ocean on a picnic blanket nestled in Partington Cove, close to Big Sur. I knew then that there was a deep connection I wouldn't find just anywhere. The California coast around Big Sur has been and remains a very magical place for me. I remember that day as so intense while floating on a cloud - such beautiful scenery with the mesmerizing Pacific coast landscape and intoxicating company.

Fast forward 20+ years and those words are drenched with purple and scratched out into the abyss. However, the paint is translucent and as I painted it near the window, sunlight streamed in and showed that when backlit, you can still see the underlying sonnet. Possibly, reflecting that although covered in the cloak of dark passion, lies and stagnant growth with all the years passed, the love and intent still remains. I intend to figure out how to illuminate this from behind when I have it in a gallery.

The next layer adds a separate infamous verse, very often mistakenly credited to Shakespeare. Written around the border, Sir Walter Scott's pithy quote, "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive." Could even the deepest connection, one in a million overcome the poor decision to first deceive? Only time will tell and perhaps another decade or two will pass before we can ever discover the truth of our emotions.

Ironically after I painted this with such verve, anger and intensity, I channeled that energy and found that I was able to see the brighter side of things. i love this Beatles song that plays below. Truly, my art is therapy.

SHAKESPEARE'S SONNET XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." - Sir Walter Scott

YOU HAVE TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY by the Beatles