JOHN LORENCE

The Nautical Series 

               At the very root of these paintings is the acquisition of a spinnaker sail…hundreds of square feet…blue and green stripes.  When the sailmakers tested the sail on a 50-foot sailboat, it blew out and was useless to them.  I acquired the sail for students to study the concept of convexity and concavity in 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional design in art school.  After several years, it ended up on Great Cranberry Isle where I suspended it high on a cable tightly stretched between very tall spruce trees in my backyard woods.  I drew it many times.  I discovered it was very informative…as a barometer…in a way.  Each day off-short air circulated in the woods from the ocean and moved the spinnaker one way or another.  From the northeast, we would button down for a storm, and from the southwest, there might be a passing shower or drizzle.  

            I’ve been in many boats, even passenger liners.  Their hulls move through water so smoothly.  The sails of a sailboat cause the vessel to move, push and/or shove in front of light wind or forceful gusts.  As a matter of fact, I have been more interested in trying to visualize aerodynamics.  I would draw air as I perceived it as cause and effect on sails, as I saw sails fill with air, open, shift, luff, rattle, shake, and snap.                Drawings of the spinnaker prompted paintings; the small studies were the training for the larger ones.  Arrow-like shapes began to move toward hull shapes and sail shapes.  Sometimes there were underwater patterns that added logic to the compositions.  But, as in most art, logic is not always present and one can move toward simple or complicated abstraction.