The Presence of Options

I live my life in a fairly rigid and structured way. My wife would probably disagree with that assessment. She would probably prefer something more along the lines of “borderline obsessive-compulsive” as opposed to “fairly rigid and structured”. Let’s just say that I like to plan and prefer when things develop as planned. You already get the sense that I am often set up for trouble.

Yesterday morning started warm and sunny, unusual for this time of year in NY, and I set out to paint at one particular location that I like. It is on Bungtown Road in Cold Spring Harbor and presents a nice panoramic view of the harbor as well as the steeple from St. John’s church rising out of the background. I have painted here before but we still have quite a bit of fall foliage on the trees and I really enjoy revisiting favorite motifs in different seasons.

I arrived, parked the car, grabbed my gear and, after a short hike, arrived at my destination. And it looked awful! The sun was low in the sky, right in my eyes, and everything was backlit and a nasty gray. Disappointed I stood and for just a moment thought “now what am I going to do?” I recall reading somewhere that the presence of options is the sign of a healthy mind and quickly decided that I would …go somewhere else?

Feeling rather proud of my new found flexibility I headed back to the car. As I was loading my gear back in I suddenly noticed this lone bright yellow maple which stood on a small hill just out of the parking lot. Lesson learned? Don’t think Paul…just paint!

Note that this painting is already sold.