The Story of Shoosh

 

Early mornings I pack up the car with a fresh palette of oil paint, jars of thinner and a few canvas, and head out into the landscape. Along my journey I meet up with cyclists, parents taking their kids to school, coffee drinkers, hotel managers, etc. 

 

As I sat under a Palm Tree painting the scene below, a father and his kids were playing in the wash emptying Tahquitz Canyon to my back.  I could hear them throwing rocks and doing fun things kids do.  As they left the stream, the older boy, about 5 years old, asked his father if he could see my painting. I told the father it was perfectly fine.

 

What happened next left me speechless. This young man gazed at my work in progress.  A big smile swept across his face, he looked me right in the eye with complete understanding, he threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed,"WOW, your paintings have Shoosh!"

 

And there it was, not some hob nobbin art critic from the New York Times or the LA Times, or the Chicago Tribune, but a five year old with vision and insight years ahead of his time. This boy was able to transcend art theory and in one glance, create....SHOOSH!  "That is it," I said, "you get it, finally someone totally and in one word gets what my paintings represent.  SHOOSH!"

 

 

"Shoosh I"  Oil on Canvas 20"x24"

 

 

"Shoosh II"  Oil on Canvas   20"x24"