“Swirling Sky” 24″ x 24″ oil/wood panel by Casey Chalem Anderson
****Brand New Transporting Episode of “Our Hamptons Podcast” all about Towd Point, listen here: https://ourhamptonspodcast.com/
The most recently completed painting of my “36 Views of Towd Point” series was painted on a wood panel with the framing on the back. Compelling for me is the luminous sky swirling with activity while the water currents move horizontally. The crisp light glows. A thin strip of fragile land sits defiantly but hauntingly since I know the potential for flooding here. But then I have seen the landscape come back even after extremely high tides, altered but returned.
When I hurt my hand a few months ago, all I knew to do was to fully surrender psychically and physically. Perhaps in the next chapter of my life, I wouldn’t be painting anymore. I thought about the years of pressure I’d put on myself regarding painting. I never felt I did enough and was never satisfied. I had to produce to feel good about myself, and I kept chasing for more. What if that identity was no longer available to me? Was I still worthy? I reckoned with this and met myself there.
The time I spent resting my hand and releasing my expectations of myself freed me. My hand has healed (I’m still careful not to over-exert it), and now I’m back with an unshakable sense of myself. I love painting, and its value is even more profound as I almost lost it. There is nothing like painting, where you are always learning something new and solving artistic problems. It’s the best sensation, and I’m driven to hunt and explore creatively using the area of Towd Point./Conscience Point in Southampton as a launching pad.
Until next time,
Casey
