The Blues

Harbour Entrance - 10" x 14" - Watercolour

Oliver Wendell Holmes an American 19th century physician and author recounted this experience in a lecture at Harvard University, June 29, 1870.

"I once inhaled a pretty full dose of ether, with the determination to put on record, at the earliest moment of regaining consciousness, the thought I should find uppermost in my mind. The mighty music of the triumphal march into nothingness reverberated through my brain, and filled me with a sense of infinite possibilities, which made me an archangel for the moment. The veil of eternity was lifted. The one great truth which underlies all human experience, and is the key to all the mysteries that philosophy has sought in vain to solve, flashed upon me in a sudden revelation. Henceforth all was clear: a few words had lifted my intelligence to the level of the knowledge of the cherubim. As my natural condition returned, I remembered my resolution; and, staggering to my desk, I wrote, in ill-shaped straggling letters, the all-embracing truth still glimmering in my consciousness. The words were these (children may smile; the wise will ponder): "A strong smell of turpentine prevails throughout."."

In this painting cobalt blue pervades throughout.

This is one of four paintings of Rye Harbour which won the 2012 Winsor & Newton/RI Award at the 200th exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours at the Mall Galleries, London. The exhibition opens Wednesday 14 March 2012 and runs until Sunday 25 March 2012.