This is the morning report from Mayberry by the sea.......sometimes the passing of a friend reminds me to live life to the fullest.......to honor their lives... I feel that I must embrace life and see the beauty in it......Last night a man who I have called friend since my 20s passed away from heart failure.....John Carroll Doyle.......he was the patriarch of the Charleston art scene.....a painter with his own style and genius...a painter with flaws like the rest of us......but a man with a huge heart and shared that with me when I was first getting started.........I met John one night while waiting tables at Magnolias....I had a show of my paintings hanging in The Colony House restaurant and he walked in and I met him and told him I had work hanging there.....before he ate he said....Im going over there right now to check it out and I will be right back......he was gone for 30 minutes and came back full of praise and encouragement and after that night we were good friends......to be an artist takes money to buy paints and canvases...frames etc...and it can be very expensive for someone on a waiters salary......but John Doyle always made sure I had what I needed.....I remember the feeling the first time I walked into his studio on King Street......he had the second floor of an old Charleston building with tall ceilings and a skylight that filtered in the most beautiful light...the studio was divided into two sections.....the front is where he hung his paintings and it was full of bright light and the back half is where he painted and lived...........I remember the smell and how that magical light played off the beautiful painting he was working on......the colors harmonized so poetically.........he taught me a few techniques and when I left he made sure I took two large canvases he had stopped working on as well as some brushes and a couple of books to keep......the two canvases were in various states of completion and he made me promise to sand them down and paint over them.....I gave him my word and it was a hard thing to do...but I did it.....one canvas measured 50 x 60 inches...a painting of an egret wading through water lilies and palm fronds....the other canvas was slightly smaller of a basket lady.........I painted over both of them....the painting of the egret was turned into a large moonlight beach and ended up in Coral Cables Florida and then it travelled to Panama and 10 years later I get call from the owner and he said something is happening to his painting..........I asked him to send it to me and when I got it I noticed some discoloration but was perplexed.......I didnt know it was the same canvas John had given me......so I sent it to Columbia to an art restoration to see what they said about it.......they got back to me and said.........there is a large egret emerging through your painting.......mystery solved.......Johns painting was bleeding through my painting....the egret was emerging through 20 or so thin transparent layers I laid on top of it......no explaination why this happened but it did....I said it was Johns ego asserting itself......so I told the guy......you have a famous artists work bleeding through my painting...two artists for the price of one...the painting had provenance now....but I will do another for you if you like.....he kept it and invited me to visit Panama where he lived on the border with Costa Rica....My plans this year is to visit Coast Rica and surf one of the worlds longest left breaking waves called Pavones that breaks near his home.......and when I do I hope to bring him another painting rolled up.......somewhere out there is another painting with a basket lady emerging perhaps.......I had lost contact with John in the last few years and it makes me sad that I could not say goodbye.....I heard he was sick and planned to go visit him this week..............a missed opportunity........I learned so much from John Carrol Doyle and his spirit lives through me because I patterned my myself after him in many ways.....I try help any artist that needs help with supplies when I can do it...and will help any artist who needs advice and encouragement.....that is how John carrol Doyle lives on through me.......he has left behind a legacy to be proud of......May he rest in peace.......free of pain and torment.......my humble thanks to him for creating beauty in this world despite the struggles that he lived through.......rest in peace John....
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 15:17:04 +0000
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