Sunset, Saturday, 13 June 2009

Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.Tonight’s painting was carried out under the psychic protection of Paul Rosner, who came out into the back yard with me to brave the bugs. No fewer than 14 found their way into the surface of the paint. Paul, a member of Trees on Fire, was here for dinner with his wife Gillian Shasby and their kids Zoe, Noah, and Graeme. Gillian’s about to journey to Lesotho, to visit her brother and see Africa for the first time.

One of the evening’s conversations revolved (?) around the map of the world in our office, with the southern hemisphere at the top, and whether there is really any ‘up’ or ‘down’ to the earth – for example, if you were approaching it from space. There seemed to be some idea that there was no necessity for any polar orientation, but then there’s magnetism, an axis, and sunsets in the west.