Call of the Rock

Today (Sunday around 5 PM) due to car troubles , a good friend, who is attuned to my love of painting, gave me a ride to a spot about three or four miles from my house. A quiet cove with many moored sailboats at one end and at the other shore grasses hiding a path that leads to a purple-grey rock. I have painted that rock many times over the years, but now I felt I could finally do it properly! I was not entirely alone as I blocked in the scene. People, dog walkers as well as joggers passed by. But there were long blessed interludes of peace, the kind of peace before nature that hints of the presence of the One without a second. I was basking in this meditation-reverie, finishing the small 9x12 linen canvas when I heard a gruff voice remark, "that's gorgeous!" I thanked the onlooker who noted the figure I had put in the picture. "That's me, isn' t it?" "Were you out at that rock for a while?" I asked. he affirmed that he was and remarked that he should buy the picture. I continued to paint, not looking up until he left. I could have used a sale about now, but I resented his dissolving my dialog with the sublime.