The Edge Lived

“The Edge Lived” developed as “splashed ink and color” expression after the style of the famed sumi-e artist, Zhang Daqian. The ink and phthalein blue presented a number of sobering if not dark opportunities for brushwork development. As I meditated on the flow of ink and pigment boats began to appear and a shoreline and a scene came into focus from the life of those who live at the edge of Carolina fisheries. They are courageous folk with a history. Sometime the stories are told between the laughter over a supper of fried speckled trout, but sometimes the narratives emerge as discarded and wornout watercraft, piles of rope, torn nets telling the story of struggles to make a living along the mudflats and family dockyards. My favorite part of the painting is the crabpots— owners identified by the colors woven into their wire mesh. The most “message heavy” element is the small sewage pumping station that speaks to the need for supportive infrastructure from government agencies. Welcome to “the edge lived,” a somber place of memory and investment of the lives lived by commercial fishing families along the coast of NC.