Cousin Rick flies in today.
We will pull anchor and start heading* toward Florida.
(we will probably start moving about 3pm) *You can follow the SPOT to see where we are. (right hand column of page) hint: it will take about 2 weeks to reach Ft. Pierce, Fl. Second hint: we have rain predicted the next couple of days, so we wont move fast...
Yesterday with my dinghy full of Provisioning I looked up to see this storm.
Amos Ferguson
I was flipping through our 6 channels on the TV the other
night. We have 4 Pirated channels from
Miami; CBS, NBC, Fox, and the other
one. Plus the 2 Bahamas channels. About 99.8% of the time I watch something
from Miami because the Bahama channels have almost exclusively local
politics. Anyway I was trying to find something
interesting and accidently turned to channel #6 the local Bahama channel. I sat with remote in hand listening to a
documentary about an old Bahamian folk painter, Amos Ferguson. After about ten minutes I realized I was
still watching the very interesting show with the remote in hand pointed at the
TV. I set down the remote,
captivated. Mr. Ferguson didn’t start
his artwork till he was in his 40’s.
Before painting ‘artwork’ he painted houses. Then one day his nephew had a dream that
Jesus came to him and told him that Amos needed to stop painting houses and
start painting art fulltime. So Amos
did. He was self taught, using house
paint on cardboard, mixing his own colors and painting both religious and local
Bahama scenes. *Now jump forward several
years later and he is still painting out on his front porch – ever day. He has a little sing on the fence out front
and offers his work for sale. But the
locals don’t appreciate it. “it’s not to
scale and doesn’t look professional.”
But you have already guessed it, he is discovered by a couple of ladies
and they connect him with some galleries and he has showings around the world
to great acclaim. Some of his works have
sold for almost $50,000. In his little
house stacked in the bedrooms, under beds, closets and on top of everything are
his paintings. More than a thousand…. The city takes notice when he becomes famous
and finally appreciates him as a “National Landmark” and one of the most famous
Bahamas painters, changes the name of his street to honor him and makes a big
to do.
"The vivid colors and simplicity of subjects make his art captivating. Perhaps it conjures up childhood and the freedoms we posessed as children of our thoughts and visions. There is something in his smile that is so genuine and that resonates in his work. I invited you to seek out some of his work if you are ever traveling through the Bahamian islands."
Way to go Amos! If
you got it, paint it…
- Art aint easy. Skip
A beautiful sunrise
