J.Howard Paintings

Street Lamp's Hum is finished.  It's a bit of a reference to Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel in title, but Bleaker Street comes to mind as well.  When I look at it I'm also reminded of a scene out of the Albert Camus novel A Happy Death where Patrice Mersault is wondering around the streets in Amsterdam. Of course the setting is not Amsterdam, but the feeling is still there for me.  The central figure carries his cooler in one hand and plods down the street to return home or go to work if he works a grave yard shift.  The night life establishments down the street are about mid-shift and will close in about two hours.  The folks who are not night life types are tucked into bed until their alarm clocks wake them in the morning.  Your wandering the streets enjoying the brisk air and the way the various humming street lamps make the reflections dance and the shadows creep.


The title for the piece had eluded me until I starting thinking about how it made me feel and then I heard the street lamp humming in my mind while I looked at it. I'm elated to have finished this work this week.  I've been waiting for the next wave just like a surfer, so that I can ride it and produce a new large body of work.  Well it's here and I've caught it.