Font Designer Extraordinaire and sometime Ocean Park Resident John Downer contacted me recently and said that he had run across an unfinished painting of our house.  He described it as a horizontal 24” by 16” format on Masonite.  Acrylic, circa 1971.  He couldn’t remember why he hadn’t completed it – perhaps interrupted due to weather.

“You’re welcome to it,” he said.  So I went to see it and loved it.  It is now resting on the music ledge of our piano waiting for us to decide where it will live.

My folks moved into this house in 1970, or so says the provenance sign on our gate.  Actually, I think it was about then that they began their move up here from the San Francisco Bay Area.  They made the transition in stages, loading up their station wagon and a U-Haul trailer  several times over the next few years.  I don’t think they became permanent residents until 1972,

One of the first things they did was to add a garage onto the northwest end of the house, adjacent to what had been the woodshed.  John’s painting shows the house sans garage, so his 1971 guess is probably just about right.  I believe he said that he was still living in Longview then, though his folks had already moved here and had bought Trondsen’s Store – soon to become our favorite mercantile center, Jack’s Country Store.

The painting is perfect, finished or not.  It documents some milestones in the life of my family, this house, and Oysterville.  It speaks of what was and of what might have been and brings back many memories, some only half-formed like the painting, itself.  Even more importantly in my mind, it represents neighborliness and generosity.  Thank you,  John!

There is a P.S. to this blog entry.  Just this morning I received another communication from Painter John.  He has found a second, also unfinished, painting of the house as seen from the opposite direction – this time looking south.  And, if I can catch him today before he returns to Iowa, it is mine…  Wow!