There’s Not Even A Blue Sky Any More

I wish I had a friend who was a bird
who could fly to Neptune and come back here
and tell me what color Neptune looks like
when you can look at it close in real life.

A Bird Who Could Fly To Neptune

There are no wild flowers in this empty lot.

Utility poles have something like blooms
at their tops but those are just transformers
adjusting the current from wire to wire.

If I created a watercolor
of this empty lot based on my photo
I’d want to recreate my exposure.
I’d want to recreate the washed-out sky
to make the point there are no flowers below
and there is no blue in the sky above.

But once I’ve created a photograph,
once I’ve made those exposure decisions,
I never can work up the energy
to say—so to speak—the same thing in paint.

And that kind of bugs me because I think
I’d rather say something like this in paint.

Empty lots aren’t what they used to be.

They used to be full of wild flowers and bugs.

Now they’re just scraggly grass, broken concrete
and utility poles holding up wires.

There’s not even a blue sky any more.

Empty lots aren’t what they used to be.

It’s like empty lots are going extinct.

Or rather one species of empty lot—
the kind with flowers and bugs and animals—
is going extinct and being replaced
by an empty lot species adapted
to the conditions of the modern world.

Now they’re just scraggly grass, broken concrete
and utility poles holding up wires.

Now that I type this, it’s kind of fitting
I guess to say this with a photograph
rather than a watercolor painting.

Images aren’t what they used to be.

Up close in real life there was a blue sky.

No matter how close you get in real life
you won’t see flowers or bugs or animals.

I’m not sure this scene up close in real life
is worth capturing in watercolor.

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Industrial Landscape, Industrial Decay, Jazz


Modern Romance In The Noir


Thinking About Watercolors, Drawings And Photos






Empty Lots


The Empty Lot Entanglement


Impossible Kisses: The Empty Lot Behind My House