Rare Bird.

 

Our journey took us to the heart of Key West,  a place full of poet-visionaries and eclectic spaces. Its streets evoke the creation of music,..  its atmosphere urges you to press beyond your personal expectations.       While seeking out the lullaby echos of steel drums..  I wandered down an overgrown alley and found this man..   an Key West artist whose inspiration left a solid mark of goodness my heart.

 

"You are very fortunate..",  he told us..   "..you are young."

 

     An artist his entire life..  he has been sustaining his body and mind, while living in his camper van..  for the past twenty years.   Creating, envisioning, sharing, cultivating..  this man's life is about experiencing the world through his own reality.   As we talked I kept looking into his sprakling  eyes, and admiring his soft, white cloaked face..       He showed us drawings of eleborate apartments in New York,  abstract paintings of vivid colors, and sketches that can only be discribed as the "energies of music".       Wearing a loose sweater that one of his children knit..   he spoke about musicians, about culture, about the strangeness of becoming old..    and this crazy, warm smile kept making its appearance on my face.         I realized how simliar we both were.   I realized that I could be this man in 50 years..  and that didn't bother me at all..   because we are both simply humans creating our own definitions of life. 

 

I think one of the most liberating things to know about this life is that we are free to make it up any way we choose.   Meeting this artist and hearing his story reminded me of the open-ended sacredness of this non-permanent experience.    It is up to us to define or defend our pursuits..   we may (the choice is open to us) become world leaders, or we may (the choice is open to us)  become island artists living from the sheerness of our van.    It is beautiful either way.. and in all directions.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Tipton