ABOVE THE FOG
Since 2019, like most, I’ve been living life with an omnipresent stress in the background. The whole world has been functioning with the ever-increasing realities of the tidal wave of a pandemic. We all work hard at avoiding the realities, but it seems no matter where we turn, we are reminded of the invisible menace. We all know someone who has been afflicted. The invisible threat manifests its presence in disturbing ways every day.
And now, just as we might be feeling some sense of relief, we find ourselves facing a new, and perhaps even more threatening world issue. For many of us, for the first time in our lives, we have a war on the “front page” of our thoughts. We can’t avoid it. The sounds, the pictures and the gruesome realities come to us daily, no matter how hard we try to divert our collective gaze from the media.
And so, I paint. I paint to take myself somewhere else. I paint to be alone with the image I am creating. I paint, if only for a few fleeting hours each day, to escape. And it works. The very act of creating, of sitting and painting, is soothing, calming and, I believe, of true medicinal value.
I don’t often paint whimsical creations. My images are most often of real places and real times. But this one was different. It’s a painting that’s been developing in my creative spirit for some time. And now as I paint the image that has been trying to come out for so long, the reason became apparent. As I painted, a thought came to me that “justified” this creation, at this particular time.
Those who suffer the ravages of severe Covid symptoms often try to describe their affliction as a “fog”. It’s been called “Brain Fog”, and it seems many find themselves enduring this long-term malaise, some with no end in sight.
And now, as I consider the war in Ukraine, thoughts I can’t seem to remove from my brain, I’m never sure what to believe when I see, hear or read media reports. Who do we trust in the media? Nobody can say for sure. And there’s a term for that confusion and mistrust. We’re never sure what’s truth and what’s manipulation. It’s called “The Fog of War”. For those deeply involved in the war, and for those of us watching from afar, we all find ourselves helplessly trying to navigate through “the fog”. At some level, we’re all suffering through The Fog of War.
And as I painted this image that’s been trying to come out for so many years, I know why it has come now, at this particular time. I envy the eagle I’m painting. But, as I paint, the eagle takes me on its wing for a few fleeting moments each day. The very act of painting and creating takes me away from it all. Like the eagle flying, as I paint and express my creative spirit, I feel a sense of calm and tranquility. Like the eagle in my painting, as I paint, I too am “Above the Fog”.
Ed Hill, Artist
