This is the No. 66 painting in my 365/2010 seriesTitle: "NEW ABERDEEN"
Size: 7 1/2X9 1/2 inches
Medium: watercolor on 140lb. DeArches cold press paper.
This little town in Northeast Mississippi, never ceases to amaze me.
From the first time I sat foot in this town, the summer of 1964, I fell in love with it. I was already in love with one of it's natives and had come to the place to convince her to marry me and go back to the Chicago are with me. Didn't Happen, I mean the going back home with me. BUT we did get married the next year. I did not return to my home till 5 years later. I got a room and stayed in Aberdeen.
You have seen a lot of the things and places that I have painted in this series of the OLD ABERDEEN. This Is the NEW Aberdeen. This scene is on the West side of the Dam. It is tucked back and a lot of the old timers don't even know it's there. Take "Little Matubby", North Meridian St. or Coon Tail Road, (by the way these are all the same street leading north out of downtown. When you get to the entrance into the Dam, go to the next turn to the right and it will take you about a mile around to where these lake dwelling are. There is some amazing looking Cape Cod type houses out there.
Many of them are just summer homes for people, who just like me came to Aberdeen, Many of them by boat, or to came at the campgrounds by the lake and decided to stay.
I will be visiting Aberdeen to explore it again with my two oldest grandsons next week.
Looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends, and that road out of town also leads to the Friendship House. That's my Catfish place. Meet me!
I do hope you like what I do.
Comments and or remarks are greatly appreciated.
1 comment:
Arni, I really look forward to meeting you, as I have heard so much about you for years.
I do know your wonderful wife, however, as we used to play together. I guess you could say we were the High Street Gang! Included in our little gang: Nina Lee Hickman, Alice Leech, Larry Thompson, Sallie Ann Easter, Frank Harrington, David Dabbs, my sister Ginny Lee Maier, and myself (Gay Gay Maier). Later on, the Gallaspy's, Jan and John were on the street. We were entertained by the Dabbs' swimming pool, tennis courts, and "The Jungle," which was an uncleared area that ran behind the Dabbs' house and a few others. We had one circus after another in my yard with the swing set as a major prop. We had overgrown wisteria under which those of us who played dolls loved to make a pretend house. In the fall, the leaves were raked to make different rooms in our pretend house. The wisteria is gone now from the white house on the corner of High and Franklin, but the frame of the swing set is still there, as my momma had it set in concrete so there would be no accidents!
I have to say here that there has been wisteria planted in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Charlottesville, Virginia, and at both houses in Grand Junction, Colorado. Wisteria has become one of the most treasured of my childhood memories and one I can keep by planting it wherever life takes me.
What a wonderful childhood we had on that street! We could walk to see most of our other friends or ride our bikes across town to the swimming pool at Acker Park.
Why can't we bring back some of those safe times when the children were definitely raised by the "village" called Aberdeen, Mississippi? You do help to bring some of that back with your paintings, Arni, and we thank you for that.
I am personally excited about seeing some of your "New Aberdeen" paintings. Thanks for staying those five years in Aberdeen so you could get a good feel of the place to put into your paintings.
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