two.

when i lived in the city of angels, i would go antique shopping with my dear friend elizabeth mellor. not thrift store shopping mind you. antique shopping. completely and totally different animals. those who do either (or both) know: thrifting is a hunt, an art — it’s work. antique shopping is looking in lovely shops for beautiful, curated things. things already chosen. see la différance, dear reader? except of course in the case of this painting. summer house. painted in 1972 by a lady named waldrip taylor. not much is known about this painter. i have done a fair amount of research on her and there is just not too much to find. so…i was with elizabeth this day and there we were — in LA, antiquing on a saturday afternoon, la brea avenue. although it is long gone and i cannot recall the name, i do remember there were two parts to this particular store. the inside part with all the really fancy stuff — and outside — where all the shit that nobody wanted lived. and THAT is where i found summer house. outside, hiding conspicuously behind 27 other pieces of art haphazardly collected and leaning against the back wall. and there we were. my friend elizabeth inside, deciding on THIS 18th century couch or THAT 19th century side table, and i outside looking through the seeming rubbish. summer house was my taste. it was my style. it had to be mine. i bargained with the shop owner…” i mean, come ON, man…it’s OUTSIDE for crying out loud!”. after much back and forth, he reluctantly agreed to accept my price. it was mine. summer house has been with me since my s-s-s-single days in LA and has seen me through the all the other things that happens in one’s life…marriage, child, divorce, a move to another state, et cetera, et cetera.

the interesting thing about this painting is how it changes for me, how it evolves, how it continually transforms into something other than what i initially saw that day long ago on la brea avenue. or maybe it’s me who changes. the person i was when i bought summer house 15 years ago is gone. my eyes have seen so many different things since then. my heart broken, healed and broken again. my being has travelled far and wide. my feet have walked on lots of different soil. my mind more open now. yada yada. i feel like i’ve made it to the proverbial ‘other side’. full circle, kinda. summer house. birds. two. in the center. (they are my favorites-) one. near the top. looking and waiting for the friend in flight to join. to become two. sigh. someone very close me used this painting as album art for an EP his band just released. how could i have known then that it would inspire someone in my present life as it inspired me in my (not so) distant past life? the answer is that i could never have known. the tricky part about this little life we get to have is that none of us ever really know anything. we just do it. we buy art. thrift store shop. fall in love. look loneliness in the eye. travel. take risks. be a good friend. listen to music. take care of our families. with regard to summer house, the circle back from some antique store in LA circa 1995 to album art in 2010 makes me really happy. it reminds me that sometimes the path taken from point a to point b is not a straight shot, but a winding, lovely road lined with birds and the brightest color green you’ve ever seen.

©littlebrownbutterfly

photo courtesy of amanda panda elmore