STILL
Painted in a time when calm serenity was a luxury, indeed almost a priceless commodity, I found solace in the very exercise of creating this simple composition. I suppose that’s what drew me to the composition in the first place. The uncomplicated and graceful flow of the arbutus branch, and the stillness of the foliage, had a value deep within my very soul. It’s an unusual type of painting for me, a still life. But why? I didn’t know, I just had to paint it.
In the future, when people see this image, they need to know when it was painted. In the depths of the 2020 Covid 19 pandemic, we all found ourselves enduring an unfamiliar and perhaps fearful lifestyle. We were living in a time of imposed isolation and very real community caution. And even though few would admit it, we were all looking over our shoulders for the invisible, and some feared – inevitable, infection of Covid. An absence of the human touch, families unable to enjoy each other’s company, and a constant awareness of who we were too close to at any given time, were the realities of the day. For some, the manifestation of their mental stress was a change of eating and drinking habits. For others, a short temper. For some, more exercise or emersion into hobbies or other productive pastimes. At some point every day, without fail, our brains were going at top speed, and we needed to slow down. Those were the times of this painting being created.
And so, I found this simple composition. As I painted, my mind slowed to the pace of the creative process. My spirits lifted and for a time I escaped. I waited for almost 2 weeks after the painting was finished before the title came to me. I sat one day looking at my painting. Searching, mentally exercising my creative abilities, and then it came. As I sat, consumed in my thoughts, distant from the realities of the day, it came to me. I was enjoying the moment, and the very simple painting I’d created. The problems of the day were far, far away. The painting was working its magic.
Finally, I was “Still”.