My Picture Gallery - Roses by the Sea

     Even though I don’t subscribe to it, I understand the allure of Pinterest and have spent many pleasant hours wandering through virtual galleries admiring other folk’s pictures. My decorating style—if you can call it a style—leans toward the spare; too much clutter crowds my mind and makes me restless, but if there is any area in which I run toward excess, it would be in hanging pictures.

     Roses by the Sea is one of my best. I lived for nearly forty years up and down the West Coast before moving to the Chicago area. Saltwater ran in my veins, mountains grew in my gardens and I still ache with the absence of them. A few years after I moved I saw this watercolor by Michigan born artist, Nita Engle, and I had to buy it. That is often the way with pictures that grab you by the hand and won't let you go until you give in and take them home with you. 

     When I look at it, I can easily imagine that I am standing on a cliff overlooking the Puget Sound in Washington. The rain has moved off over the cloud-colored water, and the skies have parted to let the sun scatter fire and diamonds in the furrows of the deep. The flowers that grow from the sowing of those seeds will be rooted in sea-dreams and woven of mist. I can hear the sweet, sad keening of the gulls as they forage for fish, and the waves of wind washing over the cliff-edge are savory with salt. In the distance, farther than I can see, there are ferries crawling between green islands, liquid-eyed seals, and black and white whale tails parting the water. The kingdom of the sea flows to the edge of the sky upon a tide of myth. I stand gazing into the gray for so long that moss grows over my feet.

     The painting is a poster-sized print that hangs in my kitchen. The frame is pretty too. It is a dark walnut with brass-colored highlights and is embossed with wavelets and trailing sea roses.  This cherished picture is my Window to the West and every hour I spend with it brings me joy.