Reflection

The story behind the painting

“Reflections” There are stories written into the sides of old working boats. Layers of paint. Scratches and rust. Waterlines that rise and fall. A tire worn smooth from years of protecting the hull. Even the measuring marks tell us something—where the boat sits in the water and how its burden changes. I wanted this painting to feel less like a portrait of a boat and more like a portrait of time. The brilliant blue against the weathered reds and oranges first caught my attention, but the reflections below became just as important. The water takes all those hard, industrial colors and breaks them apart—softening them, mixing them, and giving them movement. I deliberately allowed the surface to remain rough and imperfect. Texture, scraped color, overlapping marks, and visible brushwork help create the feeling of a vessel that has worked rather than simply existed. There is beauty in those imperfections because they are evidence of use. And perhaps that is where the title “Reflections” has two meanings. There are the literal reflections dancing across the water, but there is also the idea of looking back—at the miles traveled, the weight carried, the storms endured, and the ordinary days that quietly leave their marks. Some things and people become more beautiful because they have been weathered.