“One ocean. One heart. One dream”
H10-0534 August 2010
Buffed with gloss-clear powder coat. Trees and pump jack have hand-applied paint.
4-inch plasma-gouged frame with color applied by grinding wheel
Size – 8″ x 20″ Overall size – 16″ x 28″
Never fails, I take a vacation and think…”This will be a great time to write.” However, the minute we head for the airport, the fun train appears and the ride is fast and furious. This time it was Cancun, Mexico. Sun, surf, sand and rain filled the moments and took the minutes away.
This piece “One ocean…One heart…One dream” is another one of those ideas that has been rumbling around in the outer recesses of my mind for some time. The incident in the Gulf made the timing right to develop what my mind’s eye saw. Before the 2010 Gulf Spill, it was just to be a whimsical piece about things I knew. Now, I guess it takes on a broader statement.
I love the ocean. Whenever I get close, the first thing I do is stare at its magnificence. I am in awe of its power and intrigued by its gentleness. The word RESPECT can never be forgotten when you think about the oceans of the world.
I also love to fly in airplanes and travel through the time-tunnel tube called an airport. Once when driving through Denver, CO; before birth certificates and cavity searches were routine to get into the time-tunnel tube, my Dad and I detoured to the “new” airport. We spent 2 hours just walking through the terminal and dreaming of faraway places. I know “somedays” were a part of the conversation. (Someday I’ll go here; someday I’ll go there.)
Now this is irony. From where I live, I can’t get to the ocean without using oil or its by-products. (Driving in a car; Flying in an airplane; Riding a bicycle.) All of us, no matter how “green” we are, can’t survive without the benefits of oil exploration and the fruits received from Mother Nature’s oceans. We live in a world where everything interacts and influences the surroundings. The oceans are our life line and the oil is our heartbeat. We must, therefore, find; protect and explore our paradise in the midst of this controlled chaos we call our planet. Nobody woke up and said, “Well, today I am going to screw up the ecosystem of the Gulf.” It was just an accident and we will survive. That’s what we do!
As I sit here and look at “One ocean…One heart…One dream”, knowing all that goes on in this world, it finally just becomes a piece that reminds me of my Granddaddy. His heart pumped East Texas oil field black gold. He had other jobs before the oil field took hold but the oil is deeply rooted in my memories of him. We weren’t close, that was my fault, but I make this for him to show I haven’t forgotten and I will always love him. I hope when you take this home it means as much to you as it does to me.
