Island

This drawing (the image above was inversed in Photoshop) is actually a sketch for a painting in the unfinished "Ethereal Battle" series. I'm sure it had a different title originally, but nearly a quarter of a century later, I cannot remember that title. The reason it is now called "Island" is because the drawing was executed on a small island in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Trang Province in Southern Thailand. I stayed on this little island, "Koh Mook", by myself in a thatched hut for an entire month for less than $30. I didn't expect such a bargain. I arrived on the island not knowing where to go and went wandering down the beach until I saw a mermaid. I'm not sure why I was in such a suggestable state - I was not high on anything - but I really thought that a beautiful woman sitting on a rock nearby was a mermaid. She had not noticed me approach, so I hid behind a rock and spied on her. She was absolutely motionless, and so was I. I felt an immense trepidation about approaching this supernatural beauty with her back turned to me as she gazed out at the sea. I kept waiting for her to move, to do something like dive from her rock into the sea, but she never moved. Honestly, I don't know how long this went on for - 15 minutes? A half-hour? Maybe longer, but finally I drew the conclusion that any sane person would have made instantly: My mermaid was a statue. Nonetheless, I nervously approached and inspected her - a mermaid attired in Classical Thai finery and beautifully painted, but utterly devoid of life.

This mermaid marked the entry to a little beachstay place. Just a few thatched bamboo huts overlooking the sea beside a stucco kitchen with a covered dining area. There was no one around, but I was tired and needed a place to stay and began checking to see if any of the huts were open. After a few locked doors, I found an open hut and fell fast asleep inside. I awoke during the middle of the night to the sound of a shovel digging outside my hut, and hushed voices conversing in Thai. This made me rather uneasy because I think that digging holes late at night is only done for secret reasons. I wondered if it might be pirates burying treasure, or maybe they were sea gypsies? Perhaps something truly horrific was going on. I didn't dare venture out of my hut.

In the morning I heard Thai men talking and laughing and it seemed safe to emerge from my hut. There was a small group of young "monks" (novitiates to be exact - in Theravada Buddhism, the Thai form of Buddhism, young men don the red robes of the monks and live for a period of months - sometimes longer - as monks). These young men were very surprised to see me, but after the initial shock were quite friendly. Not long after the caretaker of the beachstay came by and told me that since I arrived on the same night as the monks, I must also be a monk and that I was welcome to stay for free since the place had just closed for monsoon season.

I had the company of the novitiates for several days before they moved on. I took a black and white portrait of the eldest, and my best friend among them, posed with an enormous hermit crab and illuminated only by lantern light. I will dig up that photo and post it here. I never did ask the novitiates what they were digging for. Communication required a Thai/English dictionary - a slow process.

After they left I settled into a daily routine of snorkeling in the coral reef in the morning, then making my way along boardwalks through mangroves, to go to the local fishermens' market to buy fresh crab and Thai curry sauce. In the evening I would boil the crab, make rice, and pour the curry sauce over the boiled crab and rice. So delicious! Afternoons I spent working on drawings. The drawing presented here is one of those drawings. There is at least one more drawing and when I get around to it, I will post it here also. In theory, these drawings are part of the Ethereal Battle series.

There is a lot more to tell about my time spent on the island of Koh Mook, but that is enough for now.