Painting: The Present Became Past

Posted by Susanna McLeod Sep 23, 2007

My youngest son, a man with a professional talent for photography, took an exceptionally beautiful photo of our city skyline only a few of years ago. The buildings in black relief, a gleam of evening sun pierced through the City Hall spire onto darkening water and the sky in bright hues of orange, yellow, peach and blue. I couldn’t resist getting out my brushes and acrylics, and attempting a portrait.

Not quite an exact representation, I was rather pleased with the results. I worked for hours and hours to get the tiny gleam of light just right through the spire and getting the refraction to shimmer across the rippling water. It’s as good as I can manage as an amateur artist. But now, barely a few years later, the subject of the painting has changed. There are new buildings on the shore that are not reproduced in my painting – tall condominium structures, changes in walkways and new docks.

Further down the shoreline, not discernible in the photo or painting, a stationary ship has been moved to dry dock, away from its original position and the marine museum’s future was in question. Visible from the water, the large curved roof of a new arena is making its own impression on the landscape.

The local waterfront had been relatively unchanged for decades, with only a new structure or two here and there until this year. I fully expected everything to remain status quo. Suddenly, change was in the air. Progress and commerce came together, and boom! The skyline transformed into a new outline that will itself be history in the near future.

Life is history in the making, as each moment, each day passes. Time to get out the paint brushes and create a fresh painting before it evolves again!