A Painter's Musings on the Visual World

My friends who have been in one committed relationship for over 30 years can skip this one, or read on for your amusement.  This is for all of us that did not hit a home run the first time at bat. The truth is we plan to when we step up to the plate, but most of us don’t. 

(Sports analogies are great, aren’t they?  I especially like baseball analogies because it is technically a game that allows two teams to struggle ad infinitum .) 

One of the things that people on their second (or more) at bat will understand that others may not is this: History matters. But more on that later. I feel it necessary to veer into how this relates in some weird way to an art blog.

Jane Chapin "Down the Zambezi" 24" x 48" Oil (Shown as revised 2019)

As Dave Barry used to say, “I swear I’m not making this up…” About 15 years ago I was painting from a photo I found.  I really liked the composition and the light and it looked like it was a Florida river scene.  I went big, completing a 24 x 48 and was quite happy with the results. I thought it would work well in my Florida gallery and proudly showed the finished painting to my husband Roger. His facial reaction was memorable as he dutifully but awkwardly complimented the painting. Thinking about a title, I asked him where in Florida the reference photo was taken. Pausing with a reluctant smile, he said “It’s not Florida. It’s actually Africa and that’s my ex-wife in front.”

The painting instantly became a sort of uncomfortable joke.  It went to the gallery, but never sold even though I tried heavily discounting it just to make it go away. I think it didn’t sell because everyone asked where it was and I am not a great liar. It came back to the studio and hid there for years like a foul ball stuck on the roof of the stadium. 

My husband and I are about to cross historic thresholds, in that we are each about to become each other’s longest relationship, which also means there was a whole lot that happened before we met each other. There are just a lot of things you cannot change about fractured histories. You can’t give your children one Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving dinner with one big extended family. That was probably the hardest thing to get used to, because coming from an intact nuclear family, it was what I expected to have. There are always other people in the picture and in the conversation.

Norman Rockwell  "Freedom from Want"  44" x 35" Oil

A wise person once said to me that couples who get together later in life with blended families have to make their own history and their own traditions rather than trying to squeeze into old ones. Over the years, some of the old photos have been edited off walls and into boxes and our home now reflects our combined history as well as each of our memories with our children. 

Jane Chapin "Appearance" 16" x 20" Oil

Roger and I have kept a few of the paintings of places and great experiences we've had together. Every painting gives us the opportunity to create our own world. We move cars and telephone poles, slide trees to one side and celebrate the world as we want to see it. We can make wrinkles and imperfections disappear in faces or celebrate their character as we see fit.  And occasionally people may be moved to buy a painting because it takes them to a place they like to be. It’s a rather awesome superpower we have.

Recently the infamous painting resurfaced and when Roger suggested a little editing, I was happy to rewrite history just a little. Roger and his oldest daughter had been in the canoe the reference photo was taken from.  I simply painted them into the picture – an easy fix I should have thought of long ago. Nobody was harmed or erased from history - just nudged to a different boat.  The painting was given a new title, moved out of the storage heap and onto the wall of our home. It is now a memory of a trip Roger took with his children. No harm, no foul.