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Nov,5- Sunday '39

A Painting – 

Today I finished an oil – perhaps my masterpiece; perhaps too good a picture – but a source of participation, as "Evening at a Headland" and "Morning at the end of [[?]] Era" were. 

The [[?]] of a painting, from inspiration to the last stroke of the brush, is as great an emotional experience as anything I know of. This painting was no exception. Its history runs [[?]]there[[?]]: 

I was born in a town with a wide bay. One day when I was about 6 – or 9 – I remained on the beach after my sisters and brothers had gone home. I saw crabs on the wet sand. I sensed the vastness of the sea, and wondered – can there be an end to this sea? Later I learned in geography that a sea is a circle and has no end, or ends as a circle ends. 

Many years – I shall skip the details – but always the sea, the rain, + the skies, swiftly changing. Rain at Manoa – and Rose. 

Lava rocks out in the sea became part of my life last year. Red hills – on the way to school, Kialia headland, Maui's northeast coast, [[?]] hills + crags at East Oahua – seen in moonlight with Rose – (sad night – Dec, 30, '39). Lava heads on the beach, forming an enclosure for Alice + me in the moonlight. 

But the more immediate elements of the painting 

Last month, a hike to the northeast