Storms, thunders, waves!
Howl, crash, and bellow till ye get your fill;
Ye sometimes rest; men never can be still
But in their graves.

–Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Daily Trials, 1861

This is a new small painting included in the annual Little Gems show at the West End Gallery. The always popular show is now hanging in the gallery and opens officially on Friday, February 9. This piece is titled A Great Bellow and is 4″ by 8″ on paper, matted and framed at 8′ x 12″.

The idea of issuing a great Bellow out over the landscape, of roaring out the eternal I Am to the universe, has been with me for a long time. It has origins, as many of you know, in the Walt Whitman verse from Song of Myself:

I too am not a bit tamed,
I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp
over the roofs of the world.

It was a verse that spurred me on when I was at the lowest points in my life. In fact, before I began painting, I carved it on a piece of an old 2×12 board alongside a face that was later echoed in my Multitudes series. It’s crudely done and not something I relish displaying publicly but it still has deep meaning to me. It’s not particularly well done and might not be one of the best things I’ve done, but I find myself looking at this piece in the studio quite often.

Like myself, it is a bit rough and nicked up, having been banged around through the years. There is some symbolism there in that the desire to be heard, to issue one’s great bellow, doesn’t diminish with age, wear and tear, or whatever might stand before you and your expression of being.

In fact, it might be that the greater the barrier, the greater the bellow.

For me, this Little Gem speaks well to that idea which is why I chose the title, A Great Bellow. Because of its meaning to me, bellow is not a word I use lightly in my titling. I think this piece carries it well.

This year’s Little Gems exhibit marks 30 years at West End Gallery. The opening reception is this Friday, February 9, from 5-7 PM. Hope to see you there!