Map Coordinates

June of 2020 I'll have another solo show down in Dansville, NY.    It'll be focused on map-based works with more collage; nothing traditional on canvas.  I'm bound and determined to have many pieces with verse tied in.  I enjoyed writing when I was in my teens/early 20's, but thought it was derivative; overly borrowing from influences. Your basic clumsy.  The past year...maybe two...I've scribbled more verse.  I guess it took some seasoning for me to find my voice and gain a bit of confidence, but here we are.  Below is the first piece I just finished for that show along with some verse.  The piece is called 'Map Coordinates' and I decided this morning to title the show with that as well.

Map Coordinates

 Sunshine State

Alabama Avenue, Rural Route 6

Willow Bend Way

- Up to the Genesee.

Weekend cypress knee catfish

Spanish moss reaching

to cabbage palm myths

- Flowing down bloodlines.

Bayside crab feast

teenage sunset bonfire

Hawaiian Tropic perfume

- Desires whispered in the pines.

These are faded postcard travelogues

painted map coordinates

for the Man I am

to the little Boy I was 

- Running to be.

Halcyon Bird

This one is a Belted Kingfisher over a map of western Washington State around Seattle. It's a small
5 X 7 piece.   I thought I'd try something different.   A little verse - a haiku - to accompany and maybe help further a visual narrative. Maybe more will come with future pieces since I've enjoyed this.  Really does put you in a nice state of Zen.  This is what happens when you buy a book about Basho for no apparent reason other than the first two pages were very interesting.   Feedback welcome...

Creek bank lush and green

My cork swirls with an eddy

Halcyon bird preens

Sentinel of the Apalach

This painting was finished the week before Hurricane Michael made landfall.  I had started writing my thoughts...

**

My Great-Great-Great Grandfather first arrived in the Florida Panhandle from Georgia in the early 1850's. What led him to Calhoun/Gulf County I can only speculate, but the beautiful land and what it provided is what I'm sure he stayed for.  I can imagine what the Panhandle looked like prior to the first large tree harvests and land clearing; dense and green.

Gulf County will always be tied to my Grandparents. It seems fitting this piece has an owl.  The owl represents several things; intuition, ability to see beyond deceit and wisdom. Don't we always tie wisdom with our Grandparents?   But an owl also represents change.

The last time I was home I walked over the bridge (Lakegrove Road) that used to be the Dead Lakes Dam.   It was early morning on this walk.  Dawn was just about to break.  Faintly, I heard the call..."who cooks for you...who cooks for you all..." drawing out the 'all' as it faded.  The call repeated one more time.   I fantasized this owl was a descendant of one that called out watching my Great-Great-Great Grandfather survey his property for the first time. Robert Lawson Whitfield paused to listen as well. Across nearly 150 years we were both surveying the dawn and the call of an owl.  Somehow, this owl and I were kin returning to a familial wellhead to check-in. 

What would Robert Lawson think of the area today.  Will my Great-Great-Great Grandson or Granddaughter stand on the same spot and wonder what I saw?  I hope one thing rings true across time, no matter what has changed this area will have meaning to us.

**

I wrote that when Hurricane Michael was a little over a day from landfall. I never returned to complete it and won't.  It's no time for any flowery language about change.  Coming from the Panhandle they (we) are a resilient bunch.  The area will bounce back and yes it'll be different. One thing worth repeating...no matter what has changed this area will have meaning to us.

This piece is called Sentinel of the Apalach.  It's on a 1930's topographic map of the Kennedy Creek area along the Liberty/Gulf County line.   Hopefully the owl is still watching over the sloughs of the Apalach.


A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?” ~Unknown