The Flood.

We had a family cottage along the Mississippi growing up and there were yearly floods there, but as a summer stop you only dealt with the aftermath. And with the cottage on stilts (yearly flooding) cleanup largely just meant removing any mud-covered items that may have been swept along. 

​Though we're mostly cleaned up and done with the bulk of the work, some scars remain from the recent floods in Milwaukee. You can see them in destroyed grass bordering roads; they're visible in the mud still caked on side-streets and gutters; some homes are visibly destroyed; others are harder to spot and arise when dark clouds roll in, maybe a sprinkle here and there, and quickening heartbeat. We've been largely lucky with a lack of rain over the last couple weeks but any time a cloud makes its presence known, my heart rate jumps a bit.

I know water and waterways have always played a large roll in my painting and it's definitely been kicked into high gear since 2020, if not years before, but it took me a while to realize just how influential the river was. Fast forward to 2025 and dealing with my first major flood cleanup, I was a bit shocked to see how much recent art deals with scenes that could easily be interpreted as floods. 

This isn't to say there's some cosmic coalescence driving my art (or the weather) but I'm beginning to realize a proximity to water really has been a major influence and the more I embrace that proclivity, the art has come pretty fast and, in my opinion, successfully executed for the most part. 

I haven't been painting as much or as large, and I'd like to change that, but the work I have done seems to be building, maybe not a series, but a repeating theme, which is somewhat exciting to see. Every great artists seems to have their go-tos... About time I joined the club (of having a go-to not being a great artist. YET at least)

It's been a weird couple weeks but thankfully things are returning to normal. While I definitely hope the real-world floods subside, it will be interesting to see how this and all my past experiences with water will continue to play a role.