Cast Net Fishing
That feeling is in the air. The Gershwin lyrics of this title comes in mind:
Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high.
Well in my case, being from the Gulf Coast, change that last line to:
And the tide is low.
And that's what played through my mind as I walked the seawall at the harbor. I saw these two teenagers going out to do what is so much a part of my culture and my growing up experiences. It was just a throw back feeling and I wanted to capture it into a painting.
Let me tell you about my connection to this painting. Many times I take a photo of something that I connect to in some way. A lot of those times the moment will inspire music or lyrics in my head. The feeling of the song, the lyrics, even sometimes, just the the title, will start rolling images around in my heard. I start planning the painting I want to create there in my head long before I ever put it to paper. That is how this one started. I could hear the music of summer, feel the warm gulf breeze, smell the salt water, hear the gulls flying overhead. It is just a kaleidoscope of senses coming at me. And I wanted all of those senses to be felt in this painting.
Summertime is the subject of many song titles. Schools Out For Summer would also be another appropriate choice. Having once being both a student and teacher, I don't know which group could sing this song louder. I spent most of my life, both as a student and then a teacher, living by a bell every 50 minutes telling me to change and move on, pick up, put away, do something. So when that last bell of the school year rings, it is this song. But the next morning, it is all about the Gershwin lyrics; " the living is easy." Like my spirit animal, the turtle, I like to move slow, stop and smell grass, or salt air. Yes, if you have ever turned your back on a turtle for a moment, they can move fast and be gone before you know it. But for most of the time, they just mosey, or as the song says, "the livin' is easy."
Most of my childhood, we were either going to a ballgame or on the water. Since I didn't play ball, the water was where a lot of my active time was spent. It could be the bayou or the gulf, fishing or swimming, skiing or walking the sandbars.
So, I give you my painting, Cast Net Fishing. It is just so exciting and heartwarming to know that young people of today, in this high technology world, still are passionate about spending time with a friend in a culture that I hope never dies. I hope you can smell the salt air, feel the warm breeze, hear the gulls overhead, feel the wet sand beneath your feet. Because "the fish are still jumpin'" and the tide will always go out.
Thanks for connecting,
Cissy