Congo's Art Studio
The Joy of Summers at Camp Timanous
Counselors have migrated back to Maine for another summer of camp. It feels weird I will not be joining them this year but I had a good run. I have over 30 years of camp experience, 25 at Camp Timanous but why do we come back summer after summer? Most of my none camp friends often ask me what is it about camp that keeps you going back? It’s not a vacation, it consumes the whole summer. You could be traveling around enjoying time off. It’s not a simple answer, though I generally say “My family is there” What is it then? It’s a collective community experience where the goal each summer is to be our best selves and have as much fun as possible. While doing just that we solve problems, help others who are homesick, we practice team work, really learn about team work because we get to experience being part of a super championship quality team, and we carry the torch of traditions that make Camp Timanous a special place. Everyone is part of the traditions and the experience from the youngest person at camp to the oldest. There are many things at camp and during the camp season that bring great joy that possibly most people never get to experience in a summer or even in a lifetime. I'm on my way up for a few days and Jake Congleton's 93rd birthday celebration in Jake and Sally's driveway! I have a portfolio of new batiks travelling with me and all them are of camp places. The places we love are always easiest to paint! and here are the paintings travelling with me and these are some of the things about camp that bring me abundant everlasting joy;
I just finished working on a commission for an old friend from Camp Timanous. The commission was for a painting of Beginners Beach. It is always a challenge to paint a scene of a place you love. The process is still the same making sketches, looking at photos and the one I decided on had my old dog Bandit in the water but it was not the right time of day. I wanted it to be during morning dips. This is a place I could walk through blind folded. When I'm stressed out I often close my eyes take a breath and the visual of the sun coming through the pine trees over the canoe dock. This vision will fill me with a quiet calmness. I've been a "Polar Bear" at Beginners for at least 16 summers never missing a morning. There are some cold mornings in Maine too! I always dive, a "professional" shallow dive of course because the water is no more than 4 ft deep. When I surface and stand up I'd see the tall pine trees with the sun coming through the branches and know that I'm ready for my day. It is my reset button. In the afternoon when the sun is going down there is a golden light that hits the top of the pines that tower over the shore line of the cove and bring about thoughts of the Hudson River Painters of the 1900s. So of course, I had no trouble coming up with a composition but as I finished the first batik there seemed to be something not right. So I did another. and then another. I think that when you love a place so much it's sometimes hard to paint. I could keep going until I've painted a thousand painting of beginner’s beach but sometimes you just have to let it go. and though my students would yell at me. BE DONE!
Paintings
- Polar Bears Zen
- Polar Bears Sunrise Kingdom
- Polar Bears You Dive I'll Jump
One of my great privileges and joys has been my summers spent at camp. It is not easy to explain to friends and colleagues why I spend all summer at camp. If you have ever felt the joy of camp you know, if not, I'm sorry. I've been lucky to spend over 40 years at various summer camps and 35 official years on Panther Pond in Raymond Maine. 25 years at Camp Timanous. The bond and loyalty I have for the people there is stronger than the beams that hold up the old barn. Timanous got a fancy new update on that old Barn this past year. It's still an old barn. It still has the charm of a 1800's new england style barn. The old beams and farm antiques in the rafters that only Suitcase knows the history of. Bob got a new kitchen with AC, an ice machine that never runs out of ice, and plenty of walk in cooler space. The restaurant section got a redo as well. Lots more room to move around and covered porch areas to hang out. My home in the summer is the Mallards apartment, but my studio becomes the Handicraft Shack mostly after taps. Like most summers I painted 3 batiks in the wee hours of the night. All 3 were of the barn. the first one (June) I did from the angle of the new addition on the restaurant section. The second (July) from the side. The third one (August) I painted with people at a cookout because that is one of the main hangout spots at camp. I also used a homemade dye made by our own Nature Man "Gurt". I asked Gurt if there was a natural dye the color of pine needles and he mixed up one that I used in the path area. We gather around the Barn area at least 3 times a day. There is a lot of history in that Barn. And now it should be good for another 150 years! The (August) painting was commisioned by the Timanous Foundation, and the (July) Barn was sold to an old friend. I've been told the June Barn was purchased but not 100%. I've got a few more camp paintings in me and will be working on them this fall in my new studio in Candler (Enka Lake area, or West West Asheville) Beginners Beach, the back road (no one will be crying) and the bonfire. Reach out if you are interested in a camp batik.
Disclaimer: there are too many heroes in my life to paint. I've decided that the requirement and deciding factor has to be the impact that the person had on a community and that they have passed on into the next world. The only exception to this rule is that I do take commissions and I do paint my children every 3 to 4 years. Dating back to college I painted my version of the official Presidential portrait every new term, but the people I paint have obviously had a more personal impact on my life.
The last President I painted a portrait of was President Barak Obama. It has become more difficult to paint a portrait people I only know through the media. Though it was fun to paint a portrait of a president I actually voted for (first one in my life 1-4) (Could not vote for presidents while I was living in the USVI in the 90's). It is a more meaningful challenge to paint the spirit and likeness of the people I know personally and as I remember them. I like having hero paintings around because they remind me to live everyday like it's my last.