For literally years, here and there over time, I added elements to the painting now called The Noise. First on the canvass was a portrait. Eventually I painted over that for another portrait — with a floral tribute to John Singer Sargent called Camilla Lily Lily Rose. Then at some point the second portrait was covered, with the flowers remaining. Next came a mockingbird, egg and cosmic nest along with a new name, Mockingbird Lily Lily Rose. Some symbolic layers of color and building blocks were added. Emoji birds came along to dial up the volume, followed by counter-directional blue cyclones. Somewhere toward this last round of symbols I realized what I had been painting — autobiographical noise.
Feeling reasonably certain The Noise is finished, l started my next autobiographical graffiti today. This one is about a topic I know far too well — rejection and loss. Although the symbols envisioned for this picture are unique to my story, we all know the pain of loss. And if we are fortunate we’ve managed to see beauty in symbols of pain-remembered.
For now the painting is called Tombstone Lost. Since those actual words are rendered on the canvass, the title may stick. Guess we will see.
