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The Process

This painting was born from an idea that started as a poem I wrote years ago, 

  ‘The First To See The Storm.’

“The first to see the storm.

The airy nights to warm.

A shower in its deepest, darkest cave,

Trickles down before his grave.

His love eludes the clouds-

But never leaves his side.

He glances up, with a tear to stay;

Wanting, never knowing,

How far away.”

“He sighs at the subsequent reflection

Of life and it’s turmoil,

Which he had to bury

in the dunes of blanched soil.

Our passion should never have been declared;

for no reward between us shared;

Unaccounted for by his confidants, 

bewildered by her sudden renaissance.

He built her sand castle out of plight

leaving her feathers bound for flight.

She washed away with the tide,

Bringing this dark sky

Before the beginning of his day

Anticipating the storm early in May”

     This painting is a scene from my summer life after high school. I was a surfer along with my friends. I grew up on the eastern side of Long Island and became a ocean beach lifeguard. I loved to swim and surf. Long Island isn’t known for its surfing but if you know the right time of day, the perfect conditions, the right place on the island, and a little luck; you can get perfect waves. This scene doesn’t exist but I was going for a place in Montauk, Long Island. 

     As a lifeguard, I watched the ocean everyday and we would know when and where the waves would be worth surfing. It usually wouldn’t be the same place so we would drive around the different surfing spots looking. 

     Surfing to me isn’t just about catching a big wave. It is also the process of prepping, getting ready, and making your way into the water. We would make sure we had the right tools, the right boards, suits, wax on the boards, etc.

My friend Sean owned a green Volkswagen Beetle that looked so modern at the time. My friends are waxing the board, getting them off the car, and the main figure, Kevin, has got his wetsuit partially on and is ready to go. As he is about to turn around and head towards the water, he sees a big storm cloud in the horizon. He knows that you can’t surf when there is a storm. Especially thunder and lightening. His expression signifies that the anticipated ‘surfing session’ isn’t going to happen. The shadow of the cloud is rolling in as you see in the foreground on the bottom right. I chose not to show the cloud directly in the sky because I didn’t want to give away the whole story without really looking at the painting.

     The poem is a metaphor for having a sort of tunnel vision. I feel that sometimes when I want something so bad, I get so excited and I overlook details or see what I want to see so it will work out. This is in work, relationships, almost everything. I need someone else to tell me or remind me that, ‘Hey, did you do this? Did you do that?’ Etc. In this case, did you check the weather forecast? Kevin is one of my best friends and would always remind me about these things and see things that I wouldn’t or didn’t want to see. 

 
    Having this painting this size was important to me because I really wanted my viewer to be on the beach with me. I want you to feel as if you can walk right to the beach. The sky is a bit too blue along with these unrealistic clouds that really only exist in a dream. 

     I want the viewer to see the painting and be excited about it. But when you really look, you try to figure out what’s going on. The idea is to get that feeling of disappointment that I feel when I look at this painting. It looks so exciting and yet the day is ruined. 

     The title and the poem play an important role in this piece. You need the full story to get a full understanding of the painting. Or at least I hope you do.

Also, a little side note. The figure in the middle, the furthest one away is a self portrait. It’s me walking back to my friends to tell them how perfect the waves are.

I did a black and white under painting to help me draw the scene and create a value system for the piece. I also did some sketches and other related paintings to help me balance out the composition.