Returning to an old painting

I started this painting years ago and, like a lot of my work, it ended up sitting unfinished for much longer than I expected. That’s actually pretty normal for me. Sometimes I know exactly where a painting is going. Other times I reach a point where I need to leave it alone. Coming back years later means I’m looking at it with different eyes, different experiences, and usually a better understanding of what I was responding to in the first place.

This one came from the end of a dive.

We had surfaced beside the charter boat as the light was beginning to change, with the water moving around us and the last colour of the day catching the surface. It’s such a familiar moment if you dive: the dive itself is over, but you’re not quite back yet. You’re still in the water, waiting your turn at the ladder, looking up at the boat and taking in those last few minutes before climbing aboard.

The captain of that boat at the time has since passed away. I remember him very fondly, and looking at this painting brings some of those memories back.

The boat is still operating today under new ownership, and we still dive from it. I’m grateful for that continuity. Places, boats, businesses and the people around them change over time, but somehow the experiences begin to layer on top of one another.

I think that’s part of why I wanted to return to this painting. It isn’t really a portrait of a particular boat or person. It’s about one of those ordinary moments that doesn’t necessarily feel important while you’re living it, but years later it holds far more than you realized.

That’s something I think anyone can relate to, diver or not. A familiar place, a person you used to see there, a routine you once took for granted. Then time passes, something changes, and suddenly a small memory carries a lot more weight.

For now, this painting is still very much in progress. I’m figuring out what to keep, what to change, and how much of the original painting I want to leave visible. Maybe that’s fitting too.

There may be things we don’t abandon so much as leave unfinished until we’re ready to return to them.

Is there something you’ve left unfinished that might be worth returning to now?