No. 420: Destination

No. 420, "Destination" by Tom Wills, watercolor and ink, September 2018.

Everyone is heading somewhere, most of the time. What will we do when we finally arrive? Stay, go or simply pause? Sometimes the best part of being in motion is the stillness that inevitably comes as we try to decide what comes next.

Painting as it dries, before finishing up and signing.

The five riders who parked their steel horses at the curb in this painting, "Destination," were on their way but took that pause. They stepped out of the mid- July sun to cool their throats with draft beer and warm their guts with fried Lake Erie walleye and fries, with scratch-made cole slaw.

Roaring silence.

The fat green awning keeps the old bar dark inside, where metal fans reflect their Morse code signals across the tin ceiling as they rotate.

The bikes, unfinished.

The quintet paused in their speed but probably didn't linger, which is a shame, because historic places such as Ashtabula Harbor have given many old souls their rest. How many boatmen sloshed across the floor over the years after their days or nights on Erie, ordering up a pint or a tumbler before making their way home or to some other destination?

Metal boxes, in the way.

Bridge Street is a small, magical place that isn't going anywhere fast in these blurry days. The drawbridge sees to that as it raises and lowers hourly, backing up cars and bikes. Some people get out to stretch their legs and admire the lifting mechanism and its concrete counterweight, while most just sit inside of their shiny metal boxes and bitch about their pause.

Inked.

I took the cars out of this picture because they were in the way. A little guesswork went into finishing the storefronts -- I imagined their exteriors in the same way I envisioned those drinking boatmen.  A utility pole and overhead wires also got erased so nothing would stand in the way of those pastel painted buildings -- except for those five bikes.

Here come colors.

No. 420 started out in pencil, and then became a pen and ink rendering before I added the paints. The dark lines provided the structure for the colors, which I shaded to recreate the lake shore sunlight baking those bricks and scorching the pavement.

I actually painted over everything twice, to deepen the colors and make the bright spots pop.

First brushes of color.

These five buildings are but a slice of the entire harbor district, just as it is a slice of small town America. These places are a great stop along the way, wherever you are going.

Adding some details.

Right before the second washes of colors.

Farewell my friend Matthew as you begin an amazing journey.

This painting is available. Email willstom01@gmail.com for details.