Maps trigger the memory of a place long lost, but still crystal clear; a grandfather's yarn beginning with "I remember when my Daddy and I used to go...."
I've toyed with the idea of putting verse, phrases or word oddities in a painting and the time seemed right. After I thought the painting was finished it seemed slightly off balance and it nagged me. Every time I looked it seemed off. I had an idea for a phrase (more about that later) and thought of painting it directly on the piece. After 20 years of painting I've learned to take it slow so I printed it out as a test for proper sizing. The mockup phrase looked good just laying across the panel so instead of painting it on, I affixed it using matte medium. I had used medium on the map to adhere it to panel. A note about that since it borrows from collage techniques... I use custom cut birch panels and seal them using a polymer sealant followed by multiple iterations of gesso and sanding. In combination with this and the multiple coats of matte medium to affix and seal the maps, I apply a final coat of gloss medium once the painting is complete. I can insure the piece to have a life expectancy exceeding 100 years with proper care.
Why the map of DeFuniak and the Mockingbird? The property we had south of DeFuniak was on a bit of hill with a great view of Rock Hill to the south. Dad always referred to it as "the hill." It was his piece of heaven on earth and where he was most happy; Zen and the art of hobby farming. We always had a family or two of Mockingbirds and our cat Max learned to give them a wide berth. Of all the critters Max grappled with over the years, Mockingbirds were ones he could never catch. Whenever I see 'em today I'm reminded of that time. If Dad has an avian familiar surely it's a Mockingbird; steely grey, stately and protective of family.
2016 was my 30th high school reunion. A long trail has been traveled so far and there's a significant fault line across that landscape in 1987 with my Dad's death. It's defining and I wouldn't be the man I am today without it, but sometimes I wish that kid back there would've had some warning to the snakes and arrows he's heir to. Perhaps the phrase (borrowed from a R.E.M. lyric and changed to fit my use for the painting) is meant to be something like that; a veiled admonition and a statement of purpose to my 1986 self. Down the way the road's divided, Paint me the places you will see.
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