This piece was done for dear family friend. He was one my Dad’s close friends from Site C-6 on Eglin Air Force Base. When Dad passed, he was one of several who helped shield the family as we navigated the tidewaters of grief. When he saw some recent paintings I’d done, he commissioned a piece for his dock house – Heron’s Rest Yacht Club – on Ward Cove, Bluewater Bay which is a small inlet along the upper left.
When I lived back home (Northwest Florida) I used to fish on the north side of Choctawhatchee Bay out of Rocky Bayou State Park. This was way before the Mid-Bay Bridge was put in. It was more for the view and less the catch. Saltwater fishing was never my thing. I was a better freshwater fisherman. I do miss a meal of fried warmouth or bream fresh out of the river or creek. I suppose its the dark waters of Wetappo Creek which run deep in these veins that guide the preference.
I always liked Choctawhatchee Bay later in the day when everything started slowing down toward evening. Maybe its because I’m an evening person by nature; my creative mind doesn’t really awaken until afternoon. When I was fishing on the Bay I seemed to watch more. The movement of the water as the tides ebbed and flowed. The zephyr created ripples across the water’s surface. But what marked the Bay for me was the Great Blue Heron. Every location seems to have its totem and the Great Blue Heron is the Bay’s totem. Very much like I’ll always remember DeFuniak Springs for its totem the bull-bat…the Common Nighthawk.
The Herons always seemed to be stock-still and supremely focused; quietly watching the shore margins for a simple fish meal. Always seeming to have better luck than I, but I was watching them and not my line. The line was just an excuse to be a pilgrim in their world. In those moments they seemed part of the Bay; a water borne golem seeking wisdom along the margins. Yeah…wisdom along the margins of life and it’s there for all of us to find – small and glorious if we take the time to notice.
This painting is 9 X 12. The map is a 1935 topographic map of Villa Tasso, Florida.
