PASSING BY
2025 Leftovers & Palette Gremlins 9
During my college years in the late 60s, I was fortunate to see Santana in concert—and they were great!
Earlier this month, I started thinking about the band out of the blue. Watching videos of their classic Woodstock performance, I registered a sense of loss for the hopeful—yet evanescent—spirit of those times.
By sheer coincidence that weekend, we were sorting through items left by Audrey’s dear mom. Pat kept a slim book of poems. I felt a confluence of timing and emotion as my eyes fell upon a poem she had bookmarked by Eva Rose York:
Excerpt from I Shall Not Pass This Way Again
I shall not pass this way again—
Although it bordered be with flowers,
Although I rest in fragrant bowers,
And hear the singing
Of song-birds winging
To highest heaven their gladsome flight;
Though moons are full and stars are bright,
And winds and waves are softly sighing,
While leafy trees make low replying;
Though voices clear in joyous strain
Repeat a jubilant refrain;
Though rising suns their radiance throw
On summer’s green…
Naturally I recognized how apropos the poem was to her passing, but I also felt the words echoing the sense of loss I felt recalling the “Summer of Love” days of “peace and love and music” represented by the Woodstock experience.
To music rare
That fills the air;
And let hereafter
Songs and laughter
Fill every pause along the way;
Joni Mitchell sang, “they won’t give peace a chance, that was just a dream some of us had.” Nevertheless, that dream persists. The feeling remains despite the years and disappointments that have come to overlay it. But I sense its passing.
All these thoughts were swirling in my mind as I started painting.
Additional images from PASSING BY
New Original Art in Our Shop
PASSING BY
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 12 ” x 16”
While this started with random blotches of paint, it became more than a Leftover or Palette Gremlin.
The initial inspiration sprang from recollections of the Woodstock era and an old book of poems. This unexpected gallery painting is a reminiscence—of people, times, and sensibilities lost.
$6,000
About Leftovers & Palette Gremlins
Leftovers are spur-of-the-moment doodles or sketches created with paint left over from a work in progress. (Ever since my poor art student days, I’ve been loathe to discard any usable paint or other art materials!) Many of these quickies end up in the trash, but some give rise to an idea that merits development into a full sized painting.
Palette Gremlins are small creations inspired by random or accidental shapes in my immediate environment. Usually these gremlins are found on a used palette, but nearly as often they spring from an unintentional mark of paint on a piece of paper or a suggestive shadow in my studio.
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Stunning piece. Just beautiful.
This is such a bright and full of colour scene, love the tranquil atmosphere and the combination of colours, if i only had the budget now.