“There’s A Place…”

“There’s place where I can go, when I feel low, when I feel blue….”. Those are lyrics from a song by The Beatles. It comes to my mind when I think about this painting I created a few weeks ago, because I gave the painting the same name as that Beatles song. “There’s A Place…”. It’s a fitting title, because this bench certainly is a real place, and it has probably served many purposes for many people. What goes on at this empty bench by the river?

This bench might be a comfortable place to cast a fishing line. Maybe it’s THE fishing spot. Or it might be a quiet place to read a book or to pray. Or a place to sit privately for a cry, remembering yet another friend or family member that recently passed away. Or maybe one might sit here and ponder what their own life has been, what their future holds, or even wonder about their own mortality. Or perhaps one might solve some current problem in their life right here or ponder about the world’s problems in general. One could sit here with a beloved dog, or a girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, or child, to tell stories or jokes, make big plans, share some beef jerky, or simply enjoy each other’s presence. It could be a great place to commune with nature, watching the herons land and feed in the water, or the ducks and geese floating down the river with a trail of their babies following behind them. Of course, these woods are filled with all kinds of birds to watch. You might even see the occasional ermine scurrying in and out of the large rocks on the riverbank. I’ve seen all of these things down by the river. To some this bench might be an oasis in the middle of a busy city… one of the few places to escape the steel and concrete, the noise, and the litter. That might mean a lot to someone who needs that.

I created this painting about a week after a friend of mine unexpectedly passed away. I mostly thought of him as I painted it. He appreciated nature and places such as this. He even once helped save a beautiful natural place much like this from being sold and paved over by developers. Perhaps the empty bench symbolizes the void he has left. Because I know he would have told me that he liked the painting. He was always a supportive friend like that, and he enjoyed my art. Or, on the contrary, the empty bench might remind us to continue enjoying life, to keep pondering and planning and enjoying our blessings. To use the bench – to accept the ebb and flow and be grateful for the different seasons of our life.

In my painting the sky is gray, and the dormant woods are bare and colorless and struggle to shake off the final days of another cold winter. Here and there, snow still lies within tiny patches of shade, where the sun doesn’t reach it, but the river is running high and fast from the thaw. The trout and salmon are running upstream to spawn and create more life. Spring is here. The daylight will stick around longer each day throughout the coming months and the air will get warmer. Soon the woods will be green again and rife with life. The sunshiny days of Summer always return and that is when the bench is empty a lot less.

You can watch a time lapse video of the creation of this painting on my youtube channel. Here’s a link to that. If you enjoy the video, you can subscribe to my channel so that you will receive notifications of when I post more art videos.

Thank you for reading this. I hope the painting does something for you.