Cast Ashore — a novelette in 15 chapters
Cast Ashore: Chapter 13
Tide and Time
Sooner than I would have liked, the ‘Tide and Time’ exhibition in Lorne opens.
The moonah has become a towering sculpture that I’ve titled ‘Hard Rain’ in allusion to the lengths of rusty chain dripping from its truncated boughs. I’ve managed to produce three short editions of coloured mezzotints that I’m fairly happy with and dusted off an old woodcut series of creekside scenes.
It’s all a bit half-arsed and hasty, quantity rather than quality, but Andrea, the gallery director, seems delighted. There will be works by over forty local and interstate artists, filling three large spaces.
I invite Kaja to attend the vernissage with me, of course. ‘I’d be honoured, Les. Thank you!’
My daughter Sam will be my other guest, sans partner as her boyfriend has to work late. Or possibly, doesn’t want to spend an evening with a bunch of boring, arty types: Gavin’s more at home with footy and beer.
It will be a big bash, quite formal, with a sit-down dinner, speeches by local dignitaries and the arts minister, and a dance band. I never felt comfortable in those kind of surroundings at the best of times, and after two years of sporadic COVID lockdowns and isolation, the…
