A Charleston Sunset

September 20, 2017

Andrew and I lived in Anderson, South Carolina when we were first married. Andrew was a product designer for Home Depot brand tools like Ridgid and Ryobi. If you're wondering why Andrew may be familiar to you, and you don't know why, I'm here to solve the mystery:

Oh yes m'am. Those are his hands on the package of the router table designed by the multi-talented artist himself. If I'm not mistaken, there's also packaging floating around Home Depot with Andrew wearing safety googles maneuvering some leaf blower he also designed. When he sees himself in Home Depot, I try to keep him humble by grazing past those products that we don't need, albeit well-designed, and focus on what we came for: things like brackets and energy efficient light bulbs because that's what people in their 30s seem to buy.

Anderson, SC is about 3 hours from Charleston. We had the best of intentions of making frequent trips to the low country. Can you believe we never went together during our few years in Anderson?

I know what you're thinking. And I'm disappointed in myself too.

Since Andrew and I met, we have talked at length about Charleston, the low country, and what we love about it. What is it about that place. Some reasons are obvious, some are more subtle. But our shared love for the area is something that spurs us on.

Instead of actually going to Charleston one night in 2009, Andrew taught me how to paint, and my subject of choice was a low country sunset with a white heron. It was a fun night of doing something I didn't know how to do. He committed to help me because I didn't have the first clue of how to get started, what brush to use, what paints to use, or how to mix them.

I recall this being an entertaining experience for me, and that was the first time we painted together. I must note, it was also the last. I think the "mixing of colors" thing prohibited him to embark on teaching me again. Or my not wanting to be taught again. Whichever way you look at it.

I thought about this "First and Last Time Andrew and Whitney Paint Together Night" when I was browsing the website, and I came across Andrew's Charleston Sunset Landscape.

I love the marshiness, and it's simplicity and calm. That's what I feel when I'm out on the water; tucked away somewhere at sunset.

While I am regretful for the opportunities I did not take in visiting Charleston when we lived in closer proximity, I am comforted by reminders of my time there. In this case, Andrew's capture of the low country sunset. I seem to have misplaced my rendition of the sunset on canvas. I asked Andrew to paint the heron for me because I didn't want to ruin it. I think we set it aside somewhere, moved 4 times, and I haven't laid my eyes on it since.

So until this beauty sells to the fellow Carolina lover, the jewel-tone watercolors of the low country sunset will get me through till my next awaited visit to our beloved landscape.

Well, that and Kim Graham's Instagram.

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