Green Monster Beneath the Waterfall
12" X 9" , oil paint on canvas pad, 2014
This painting, Green Monster Beneath the Waterfall, brings me back to an evening in Switzerland, when travelling solo through the Alps, I laid my head to rest in a cave, beneath a waterfall.
I had seen it earlier that day when visiting a glacier, which turned out to be useful, as on returning to the nearby village I discovered that all the hostels were completely full. I told a young woman, whom I had met there in Gimmelwald, the solution I had in mind. It reassured me knowing someone would be aware of my whereabouts.
After an hour of trekking through the hills and ravines I arrived at the cave just before dark. I could hear animals, mainly mountain deers (I think) climbing above. I collected as many branches for a fire as I could, but it had been raining and much of it was damp. Nonetheless, I did manage to start a fire when I resorted to burning apart of a script I was carrying, for a play I was to audition for once returning to Montreal in the Fall.
At night the sound of the waterfall camouflaged the storm that roared above. I was unaware of it, but I did dream of wrestling with the Incredible Hulk (who later in the dream became a friend), so perhaps some part of me knew there was something big and scary happening nearby.
The arrival of the morning was sweet and refreshing, as I emerged from a deep sleep. That night in the cave beneath that waterfall, next to a glacier in beautiful Gimmelwald, Switzerland, where I met and danced with my green monster, is not lost on me.
