Boot Cove v.2

This work is a composite of many drawings made at Boot Cove in Northern Maine. The image includes trees and wind, the flowers and leaves of the ground cover, the rising and falling of the tide, and the flight path and sound of gulls. When I draw outside, I feel like the place in which I am sitting is giving me little gifts. It gives me shapes, textures, colors, sounds and sensations as prompts and with appreciation, I return the gift in the form of a drawing or painting. I am reluctant to describe this exchange as if it were a relationship with another sentient being, since it suggests I’ve gone a little nutty, and strayed from rationality to favor magic! But there is something here worth considering and it’s not necessarily at odds with rational thinking that drives science and provides so many good things. Imagining the human relationship with nature as one of reciprocity, or more simply, thinking of it as a culture of gift exchange, may be the turn of mind necessary to counter the extremes of rationality that have provided argument for taking too much and depleting the natural world to the point of crisis.