Fishing Solace

In September of 2006, I got a call that my mom was suddenly in the hospital with life-threathening seizures. A few days later she was scheduled for surgery to remove the cancerous brain tumor that had developed.  Dad and I spent time with her each day in the hospital and then I stayed with dad at nights at their house.  One evening after dad and I returned from the hospital, I got out my paints and sat at mom's desk in the office and painted this fishing picture.  I remembered the times as a kid with my Grandpa Goehner when we would go out early in the morning on the Puget Sound or on a lake in his boat to fish.  It was a place of great solace and excellent time for reflection.
My dad also loves fishing so much. Knowing my dad was trolling through some very shrouded, misty days--no doubt, wondering if he would lose my mom to cancer like he had his first wife--I thought mostly of him as he slept in the other room as I painted this.  I wanted to capture the truth that while the darkness and heavy fog may sometimes be all around us, hope and peace are still very much there in the center as we remember that God's love and warmth is there available to us, no matter the conditions that momentarily we may be sailing in.

Moonlight Marquis

On my birthday in February 2007, I sat down at that same desk at my parents' house in Leavenworth and started filling my canvas with blues to create a sea scene.  There was a photo I had found of several boats, but I wanted to focus more on the blues, moon and the moonlight, so just included a solitary fishing vessel.  Home digital photos do not really capture the colours and strokes and "art" of painting (From my business visits to Kinkade's organization in Morgan Hill, CA, I can see why they have spent tons on technology to correct digital images to really reflect the actual original), but the blues in the actual picture really are pretty cool--literally and figuratively!  The last evening light of the sun going down is hitting the docked well-used fishing boat, reflecting down into the blue waters.  Ah yes, for the fishermen, all the fishing is complete for the day and now is the time for refreshment with family and friends. 

Mountain Paddle

On the eve of Easter Sunday, while my wife was visiting with friends in the living room, I decided to paint. I sat down and painted this summer scene of a couple of people canoeing on a lovely mountain blue river.  I think it was the first painting done completely in one sitting.  So early on Easter morning of 2007 I was finished.   I can say that the real painting is visually much better than this digital image.  As you know, canoeing takes two people working together, and for me this picture is about friends working well together in a common pursuit.  When the rhythm is established between them, more time is available for enjoying the beauty of the surroundings

Sunset Reeling

Cori and I decided that with all the busyness of life, the remodeling, etc., we really needed to begin taking a Sabbath day of rest.  This was done on that first of our Sabbaths, 13th of January 2008.  It outlines a chap relaxingly throwing a fishing line in the water...not because it was his vocation or something he "had" to do, but rather because it was a way to relax.  The title of the work describes that we want to put an end to the constant reeling activity of the busyness of our modern lives.