Puerto Rico-Tropical Keystone

The cry of the blacksmith’s daughter to the sea and the life of uisge-beatha sing to the lone islands that I am Clan Morrison. The Zen of an incomplete circle of black soot and the mixture of Chinese graphite and clay cry that I am an artist. Technically, Puerto Rico is not a state but neither is Virginia, but in 2012 with a non-binding referendum 54% of the population voted for statehood. My Puerto-Rican friend said that she did not what they wanted. It was Spain’s keystone of the Caribbean. British captured the island but retreated from it. The United States got the island as part of the end of the Spanish American War. Ironically the Island also has one of the largest Communist Party’s in the United States. (Its flag is the same design as the Communist Cuban Flag which is why the blue is darker because the federal government changed it in the 1950’s with the Cold War, but the government is letting them return to their own flag in recent times.) It used to be a “rum island” but the industry went overseas. There actually a uprising to gain independence in the 1930’s but it is becoming American. I like the song Pour Me a Glass As Well.

The island has a very special mythology. Chupacabras are native to Puerto Rico but not in the picture.  Behind everything is the Faro del Morro at El Castillo de San Felipe del Morro in San Juan in the San Juan National Historic Site overlooking San Juan Bay. Originally a circular tower completed 1540, it was added to until it reached its current it current size completed in 1787. (Except fort the bunker added during WWII) On the left side with a few things resting on it, the wood barrel machine is an 1850’s corn mill at the Hacienda Buena Vista in Barrio Magüeyes. The hacienda was one of the biggest on the island until the 1950’s and is now kept as it was in the 1850’s. On the trough of the mill is a Puerto Rican parrot from the El Yunque National Forest which was honored with a national park quarter and was found in 1876 by the Spanish. The head and the hut are for the Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center. The Antique firetruck on the mill is for Parque de Bombas which is one of the most iconic buildings on the island. It is 8” x 10,” drawn with pencil and white charcoal and completed recently.

The name of this piece is Fencepost, is 9” x 12” and drawn with ink October 2013. It was between two cornfields in Indiana were the stream divides the land the tree scared to form an eye as the fence ran out permitting a taste of nature I was worried because there was a loose dog in the area. This was from my first year as an artist the month my mom died. If you are interested in buying this or any other of my work email me at MatthewMorrison76@yahoo.com to order.