Time Along a Journey’s Path

It's funny or should I say enlightening what I discover when creating art. Many years ago when I was working in a proverbial nine to five jobs as an engineer I would attend figure drawing sessions at least once a week to keep my hand-eye to form creation at the ready for a time when had more time as an artist. In those sessions I'd say there would be seven to fifteen artist drawing a nude human form in several short segmented times. The model would creatively change pose on their own, and in long poses the group agreed on a pose, usually a pose with bits of suggestions from everyone, "arm there", "legs like this", "face that direction", and etc.. Drawing those many poses over years I accumulated many, many drawings with expressive lines that followed the human form and other drawings that where half way complete.

During the covid year around 2022 I finally-finally open a small studio with in a quiet place with intention of creating completed paintings and drawings and maybe even a sculpture here and there that had well thought out compositions and theme. My art would be the best that could do and I would have no excuses. One thing I decided to do was three triptychs, that is, a theme composed over three different canvases which would account for nine paintings total. They would be of the human form and have elements of human psyche nature and wonder. Stay tuned I have completed two triptychs or six paintings I may not get to the third.

I not only wanted to highlight some of my artistic ambitions in this blog but a discovery.

In the second triptych I wanted to add a pocket a watch, an item that I think congers up thoughts of a style of the past, an ingenuity of the past, and a symbol time that bounds us all. Thoughts ran through my head "hmmmm...where to look", the internet? "maybe but the real thing would be better", so I thought may be an antique shop or a pawn shop would have one, but I didn't want and couldn't to spend a high price for something I'd hold on to only for a moment. I thought and I thought...hmmmm, what about a museum. I doubted that Connecticut would have anything, but two my surprise I discovered Bristol Connecticut had a watch museum. Wow. I called for times and arranged a time to check it out with camera in hand.

I arrived at the museum Saturday afternoon I walked to the front desk were I paid a modest entrance fee ten or twelve dollars if remember correctly. I notice that this woman was probably half black and half white and guess she noted that I was a black man because she told me a few black facts. She enthusiastically told me of the history of the museum and how the founder was a dedicated company executive that he owned a watch company in Connecticut, and how he actually died dedicated in office. She also told me that there was a time that Connecticut was considered the watch capital of the world (many years before my existence). Connecticut made standing clocks like the grandfather clock and short tall and small. There where other places all around the area and some made pocket watches in Connecticut. She even told me there was a black inventor who patented a unique mechanism for a standing clock which he produced and there was a black company that made wrist watches. I marveled at the clocks as toured the museum. Some were seem prestigious, some ceremonious like the military clocks that were there and some whimsical like the old cat clock from early 19th century.

Lastly I visited the pocket watch display. They were fascinating. Some silver some gold. I took pictures I needed with my camera and with some artistic license I added a pocket watch to my painting.

If your interested in visiting the museum here is the address:

Highlights: Offers tours · Admission fee · Gift shop

Address: 100 Maple St, Bristol, CT 06010

Founded: 1952

Phone: (860) 583-6070

Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 10 AM Sun