Total Eclipse of the Art

IMG_2097Thirty-two months ago we hung a painting by Mick Calabrese and Daniel Montano over the table where I sit and write. As I whiled away hours penning poems, or typing blog posts, and correspondence, each time I needed a breath of fresh thought I’d look up where my eyes rested on the bottom right corner. As I fixated on this notion my time became dedicated to toiling over what would become my first novel.

As it neared completion I consulted a calendar and saw that a day which held personal significance was approaching, conveniently it would also be the day of a solar eclipse, and something like that doesn’t happen every day. So I sat on the book a week longer than I needed to so as to ensure I got the publication date I wanted. The launch was successful, by my standards, and I went out to celebrate with a few close friends. We went to an art show by Drew Millard (http://millward.portfoliobox.me) , who lived for many years in Leeds but is internationally known for his posters. My wife bought me this amazingly detailed print titled The Day the Sun Went Out, it features a Yorkshire Rose at t’bottom, a depiction of the solar eclipse that occurred on the day of the art show on the top, and the Leeds sky-line including our flat-block on the right.

IMG_2096-2The following evening once she had gone to bed I stood staring at the new print and reflecting on the process and the amazing support the project received over the weekend. It was then I turned and looked at Mick and Daniel’s painting for the first time in over two years. I said it was above the table where I write, and that’s true, I am there every day and every day I converse with the Press Here part, but I live in a small British flat, which means the room where I write is also the room where I cook, eat, listen to records, read, and watch movies, the art that adorns the walls spends most of its time in the background these days, regrettably, that’s how immunity builds. So I took a step back and attempted to look with new eyes and appreciate what made me fall in love with the painting to begin with and breathe it in in its entirety. Having totally forgotten it said eclipse boldly across the top I doubled over in laughter. That had completely left my consciousness on the Day the Sun Went Out and for the preceding weeks when I chose the release date. You can make of that what you will, but it’d probably be easier to read the book.

https://www.createspace.com/5347210

It’s also available on paperback and Kindle through all Amazon portals.