Leaving Long Island


                                                  Leaving Long Island, oil on masonite, 23" x 32", Steven Rhude 


The road has mixed feelings for you. One being the love of a place you leave behind, the other being the love of place you imagine. The difference to you is self evident. This is the in between world of the picture making process. You wake, you drive, you imagine, you dream, and then you try to etch the experience in your mind. You press on. Two ferry's out are waiting for you to return. Your reconnaissance is nearly over, but it's hard to let go of it. You have some notes, a few drawings and numerous photographs. You will wait a few months, then recollect the place in oil paint on a substrate surface. But it is not the place you recall as reality challenges your perceptions. You dislike a shed colour so you change it. A type of aluminum siding is discordant, so you remove it. The picture takes on a life of its own outside the slavish document of a brief interlude. It dawns on you that this is not just a picture, but an ongoing moment.  


Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS.


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