WHAT’S THE POINT?
It’s somewhere on Vancouver Island. I’m not sure exactly where.
My son Bryson, who lives in the Victoria area, sent me a photograph with a request. This place, this time, apparently holds a significance for him. He didn’t elaborate. Would I paint it for him?
I don’t do a whole lot of commission painting. I find them just a bit taxing as I try to paint what the client wants and expects. The image can lose that special energy without a very personal connection. I’ve done them in the past a few times, but for the most part I avoid them.
But, of course this request was one I couldn’t refuse. Besides, the unique colours and tones of the sunset caught my eye. I took the photograph that Bryson sent me and composed it to fit my eye. I suppose it was the fact that my son had taken the photograph and attached some personal importance to it. I felt an immediate connection, a familiar energy, as the painting came to life, and I was happy with the image when the painting was completed. I didn’t send him photographs of the painting in progress, and not when it was completed. I didn’t even tell him I’d been painting it. The first time Bryson saw it was when he opened the present under his Christmas tree at his home in Langford.
When we talked by phone that Christmas day 2020, my first question was “How’d you like the painting?” His response was one I’ll never forget, and one any artist dreams of when someone appreciates their work.
“Dad, I was speechless. You got it.”
Bryson is writing the story to go with the painting, and that’s not completed yet. The story of this particular painting is his to tell, not mine. But, he did tell me what the title is. Someday, maybe I’ll know what’s so special about this place, and someday maybe the title will make sense. “What’s the point?”
