Norman Allan
  
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so close to never more
  
 

 

 

  
 

I was round at my neighbour`s, at Will`s, the other day. He has a couple of my paintings, and now a third, but this was the first time I have been over just hanging out, and I got a tour of the house and the art.
     In the front room there is a small painting (not mine) of a horse. I was noticing, and remarking upon, how the yellow line above and to the sides frames the piece and, I think, elevates it from nice to really fine!

  

 
 
     "I have another horse downstairs," said Will, and we went down to complete the tour. The second piece is larger, maybe 3 by 4 foot, and, and it is exquisite. Blew me away. It is as though the image was partially sanded over, sanded off the canvas, and again there is a "warm" (orangie) line (and mass) that transforms the piece. All in all, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. But the story of its "provenance", of how Will came by it, is why I write...

  
 

 
 
     A while back Will was living in an apartment building. The laundry room there was near the recycle and rubbish room (as I understand), and the painting was sitting there abandoned on the way to the trash. A close friend of Will saw it and thought, "Will would like that," and brought it to him.  		  
 

 
      "I think it goes the other way up," said Will, and,"I love it!"
    It hung in Will`s living room for 8 years till he moved to our street. "I call it, "a horse with no name", after Neil Young and Crazy Horse song."		  
  Will knows that he is blessed by this small miracle; that this beautiful creation was so close to oblivion on its way to him. And I am honoured to have my work hanging on the same walls as this wonderful piece of art. And, I am amazed, also, by the beauty and fragility of it all. So close to never more and gone.