Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The old Dash Point dock

The old Dash Point dock in 1964
When I moved from the sandhills of eastern Montana to Dash Point in 1964, Puget Sound was a grand and welcomed lake. At first opportunity I hauled a piece of plywood and my latex house paints and tints to the shore beneath the dock in the county park.

This was my first major work.  I have dabbled in tempura and watercolor all my life but this grand structure, glowing in the late-afternoon light, had captivated me.  A half-century later, I remain entranced by the composition, the color, the repetition of the pilings.

I must have been a fast study with my paints.  Using a household latex satin interior paint, I colored the basic white with intense drops of tint.  These came in metal tubes, common before the "espresso machine" automatic mixers of today.  I had acquired them from paint stores that discarded them in favor of the more accurate mixers.  I blended my colors right on the canvas--or in this case, plywood. 

You can see that the upper sands have dried out, indicating that what is pictured is an incoming tide.  Well, it wasn't incoming when I set up my easel, I remember that.  But it was certainly incoming when I hastily ended my plein air session that day.

It was a week before I had an opportunity to return to the dock, to complete the painting--the water needed attention, and I had hoped to add the feet and legs of some people up on the dock.  But a week later, as any Northwesterner would know, the tide was already in.  And the unfinished painting was pushed aside in the trailer where I lived above the state park, and later in the beachfront home where Virginia and I made our first home together.

A friend who is curator of a small art gallery was left high and dry last week by his scheduled artist.  I came to the rescue with a dozen small acrylics and oil pastels I've done in the past year or so.  And there, behind the door in my studio, was--the old Dash Point dock!

I touched it up a little and stapled on a quick frame.  I'm sure it won't sell, and it won't win any prizes. 

But old friend, it is good to see you again!

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