“Hung Out to Dry” 11″x 14″ Acrylic on Canvas
“Hung Out to Dry” is the third in the Clyde Phillips Seafood series. The painting reveals the back of the seafood market. The shrimpers line up outside along the docks and unload their bounty. The seafood is brought through these bays, into this area for cleaning, weighing, icing, and packaging.
Throughout the back, there are remnants of very old equipment, such as the one you see on the left in the painting. Hindsight reminds me that I should have asked what all the paraphernalia had once been used for – with all the shadows of work long gone… gears, chains, conveyors… and now rust.
My latest fascination has been to paint artwork that accentuates light and dark contrasts. This painting captures the dark, cool, work area of the old market, as well as, the bright, hot sunlight – providing the only source of light in the back rooms for the day’s work.
The intensely vivid, almost fluorescent, yellow bib and slicker hanging out to dry struck me, amidst the very dark and light dichotomy of the moment.
