Scott is right handed

It is truly winter in the valley today.  Mist billows and eddies around the escarpment as I drive to Scott's house.

I had lunch a few weeks ago with his family but today is the first opportunity since Dean's death that I have had to see the work Scott has been doing.

 

Rules of Engagement

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This is a very feminine painting to me - delicate nose and chin - it turns out it is based on Scott's partner Amy.The long neck encircled reminds me of photographs of African women, their necks seemingly stretched by their gold jewellery. There is also a thatch  or straw like quality to the dozens of intricate vertical lines , reinforcing a kind of primitive quality to the head. The mushroom like structure on the crown of the head is radar like - seeking out information , rejecting that which might be harmful...

Embryo

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An embryo whose umbilical cord is dotted with translucent red sap - where one embryonic eye is already alert and staring. Vein and muscle coil around it , in an almost relaxed fashion - such veins and muscles yet to flex and strain in growing to maturity.

 
Communion

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Baskets within baskets, the curl and twist of an old telephone cord, the plug firmly inserted within its socket. A telephone earpiece.  In communing with others, what fills up the baskets? What is important, what makes most of us wish to continue to breathe our daily lives.

Boy

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I am struck by the eyes.  They could well be Dean's eyes.The body, the eyes, the ears absorb so much, only some of which we seem to act on, process, move on from. How much more is stored within the complex brain. The many "eyes" within the brain which absorb knowledge.  The crown of sensitive veins, our antennae.

Scott is in a pensive mood today.  We talk of so many different ideas and motivations and future plans and current work.  He mentions casually that he has been in a lot of pain with his hand.

"I've never written about your hand before"  I say.

Scott's left hand    

The fingers and joints of Scott's right hand are badly swollen and often painful due to the disease Haem Angioma.  He lives with chronic pain, where some times are much worse than others.

He is starting now to accept this as part of his life, to embrace the good, relatively pain free times and to act sensibly in the bad times.  Daily pain killers are part of his routine.

Scott is right handed.  

Comments

[Chris]

So much to take in... the stunningly beautiful photograph of the valley, Scott's paintings that are mind-boggling - they look like sculptures [I would love to study them in person], and his right hand. I'm blown away. I love these posts. Incredible.

[kim at allconsuming]

Yet again I am moved beyond measure by this man, his work and his life.