A Sense of Place

Listen privately, silently to the voices that rise up
From the pages of books and from your own heart. 
Be still and listen to the voices that belong
To the streambanks and the trees and the open fields.
There are songs and sayings that belong to this place,
By which it speaks for itself and no other. 
~ Wendell Berry

I’ve been residing full time in Port Townsend – my new home town – for more than a year now. When I wrote “Something About A Boat” in this space back in November 2015, I already knew that boats would inform my deepening sense of place, and I figured they’d make their way into my art even more than they already had. After all, PT is a whole-heartedly maritime community, and boats – in all their graphic beauty – are everywhere. 

But, what is a sense of place? It is a warm recognition of home, right to your bones. It is a grounded-ness that arises from sweet geography, community, domesticity, living in truth and love.  I’ve been thinking about this while I’ve been painting for my featured artist show opening August 5 at Gallery 9. I love to work within thematic framework, however loosely defined – so as I have been painting, I am painting with the question, what is a sense of place? Is it people, foliage, landscape, structure? The new pieces all come from what I have been seeing around me: marina scenes, beach scenes, local birds and big lovely country flower bouquets. And when I travel, I sketch those places too, looking for that something “by which it speaks for itself and no other.”