Painting in Purgatory: Part 1 (Lonely Beach)

These days, I am of two minds. In one of these minds, I am doing just fine. I paint, teach, and do my best to be on the side of good. Thailand surrounds me with warmth, color, and kindness…not to mention food. My health is fine. My children are safe. There is money in the bank. 

Meanwhile in the other mind, I am so fucking pissed off I can’t think straight. There are no words to express this level of pissedoffedness. Human beings are capable of terrible things and it feels like the bad guys have taken charge. Painting palm trees simply doesn’t feel adequate to combat these forces. Nevertheless, I keep working. 

I am “away” for a solid month on Koh Chang, an island in southern Thailand. Lonely Beach is a small resort area featuring lots of funky wooden buildings with food joints, massage parlors, cannabis stands, and beachwear shops. Judging from the general vibe, it had its heyday back in the 70’s before all the hippies went home and got jobs. It suits me though (being an old hippie myself), and there is a wealth of subjects to paint. Thirty days is too long to be on vacation and too short to establish a new routine, so I sort of split the difference. I work in the morning and adventure in the afternoon. 

It takes a while to get into the groove. An artist needs to get to know a place, walk by that crooked shack yet again; watch the vendors from various angles while they cook their noodles. Do research! By the third day, I had zeroed in on one particular Thai lady, sandwiched between her stove and a wall of miscellaneous cooking tools. At a nearby fishing village, a compelling image appeared between two buildings…an unoccupied chair in the doorway. A blue palette. It is a luxury indeed to be able to do whatever I want in any given day. Sleep-in, work, read, swim, absorb the world around me. So what’s this about purgatory you ask? Sounds more like paradise. 

Let me put it like this. A few nights ago, I had an encounter with a monkey. For the record, monkeys are not cute. Don’t let those cartoon monkeys fool you, in real life monkeys are aggressive, dirty, and bare their teeth. So I was walking the narrow path that leads to my bungalow and there’s this big ass, alpha-male monkey in my way. No doubt he smelled the fruit I was carrying and had every intention of stealing it. He advanced slowly and silently, maintaining eye contact the entire time. I yelled my head off and swung things wildly in his direction. Eventually, he backed off. The fruit and I escaped unscathed,  but from that moment on I remained vigilant every time I walked that path. 

That’s how I’m feeling these days, and from what I can tell we’re all experiencing some version of this. Enjoy the scenery, but watch out for the monkey.