Studying the Shadows
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”
Funny how the mind works, how words arrive in the still of the night. I was poring over this watercolor that has held my fascination for a couple of days, wondering what to do next. And, for the first time, I noticed the shadows beneath the spectacles, weaving serpentine-like around the case and the envelope underneath. I started laying in the shadows, looking at the warm areas and the cool areas, trying to match warm and cool neutral colors, watching them flow along the wet trail I had initiated with my pointed brush. I got lost in the shadows, and suddenly these words from T. S. Eliot, that I hadn’t read in months, or even thought about, rose in my consciousness. I liked the feelings that came with them. And I’m fascinated with that idea of what exactly falls betwixt the idea and the act of creation, whether it be a watercolor, a short story, a poem, a song–anything that we can call “creation.” The interval between the idea and the process of actualizing that idea is what stirs my blood.
Thanks for reading.
Tags: Imagism, man cave, T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men
Recollections 54 The Art of David Tripp 
April 21, 2013 at 9:49 pm |
Reblogged this on ls719 and commented:
This is cute and lovely and so is your photo. Awesome thanks for sharing.
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April 22, 2013 at 8:34 am |
Thank you for looking and posting.
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May 10, 2013 at 7:40 am
Mike. I just wrote to “Boots”! I cannot thank you enough for posting this. I was asleep when the message arrived last night. I’m a school teacher by day. My dad is Jerry, though everyone there called him by his middle name (Denzil) or his nickname “Dang”. I think his only remaining living siblings are Web and Paul. Paul is 90 and in the Soldiers Home in Cape. Dad lives in High Ridge, MO, is 84, and doing OK, still married to my mom (Fern McNeely) who actually lived closer to Neely’s Landing than Dad did. Dad’s parents were Willis and Rena, both deceased long ago. There were 12 brothers and sisters in dad’s family, most of them wild, nearly all of them playing stringed instruments. Don’t know if you knew, but Jug assaulted a deputy and fled to Missoula, Montana in his later years. He died not long after (DWI). Jug was a rough character: Dad visited him in jail a great deal before he finally got a job on the river boats and made a career out of that. Once he retired and opened Riverview Inn, he still had an edge to him. But he was funny as heck to all of us younger ones. I saw that “apron” as well–he had to get it out and show us every time we entered his establishment. Your memory is much better than mine–I forgot that that was Miller’s Cave in back. And I forgot about the pool table. And I saw that mannequin and bikini in my mind’s eye as soon as you brought it up, but I had forgotten her completely. Jug had an incredible collection of Jim Beam bottles that he kept in a trophy case, but I believe they stayed in his home instead of the bar. Last week I nearly threw away the two bricks that I saved from that tavern. I dug them out of the foundation when I went there and discovered the entire building gone, replaced by wild growth as tall as I am. The bricks are in my Man Cave now. I’m going to go back through my shoe boxes of 35mm photos to find every one I can of that dillapidated building. I went all through it and shot it from all angles, after the roof had fallen in. All the windows were gone as well. And I recall the structure was completely overgrown with ivy. But I know I took many, many photos. I’m glad I did. Because the next time I went there, there was nothing. i wish I had decent photos of the establishment when it was intact. I would love to do a series of paintings of it. If you ever want to get in touch, my cell phone is 817-821-8702. I’m going to pass on to Dad everything you just wrote me. He will be delighted.
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May 9, 2013 at 10:34 pm |
Yo, David! My name’s Mike Tripp and we’re related though I don’t know how. I just found your watercolor of Jug’s Place at Neeley’s Landing and wanted to let you know I really got a kick out of it and the story.
I went there once with my folks when I was about 10 (our parents often took us to bars with them because we couldn’t afford a sitter. My brother and I used to wonder where the other folks kids were. LOL!) and spent the evening.
I remember the female mannequin just inside the door in a bikini that ended the night with the bottom around her ankles. To the left in the front area was the bowling game you spoke of. In the middle of the room was a pool table. Jug had a little pizza oven on the bar where he cooked little frozen pizzas that were dinner that night.
At the end of the bar was the drape over “Miller’s Cave”. I remember the meat hooks in the ceiling from when the building was a general store. I thought I recalled that the cave actually went about an 1/8 of a mile into the mountain and Jug telling a story of them taking people who passed out drunk way into the back. When they’d come to they were in the pitch dark and would call for help and he’d make them feel their way back out, but that might just be a story.
There was only one restroom and you had to be careful not to surprise someone because it didn’t lock. Jug was there the night we went and I remember him showing my mom his apron made out of an old pair of cutoffs. He showed how he kept the change in the left pocket and the bills in the right. Then he unzipped the fly and out came rolling a foot long red cloth penis! What a guy!
Your uncle the pedal steel player, Webb Tripp, is my cousin and was playing with his band that night. First live musician I ever saw. (I’ve been a professional musician for 38 years myself! I’m also and artist/screen printer so you and i have a little something in common, too.) My Father was Dorris Edward Tripp, Grandmother was Opal Tripp, Grandfather was Clarence Tripp of Jackson. Great Grandfather was Milton Leroy Tripp, probably our common ancestor.
I remember the distinctive smell of the place, too. I’m so sorry Jug’s is gone! Going there is one of my most vivid memories. I seemed to be related to half the people there! Thanks for the memories!
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May 10, 2013 at 8:25 am |
Just talked to my Mother and sorted it out. Your grandfather Clarence was brother to my grandfather Willis, My Dad is Willis’s son. Mom remembered Dorris and Elizabeth. Her nephew Kenny McNeely married Dorris’s niece as well. Small world!
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June 7, 2013 at 7:14 pm |
I just got through reading the postings by both of you. First off just a heads up we are all related. With that said I am the granddaughter of Vivian Corletta whose mother was Constance Beatrice daughter to Willis and Rena Tripp. Willis father was Milton Leroy Tripp. Question do either of you know who Milton Leroys grandfather was? I also have been told the stories of his dad being full blood Cherokee and that his dad had changed his name. Do either of you have any information that may help? I also have information on Ancestry.com should either of you wish to see the information. Thanks Sherry Monroe
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June 8, 2013 at 11:36 am |
Wow, Sherry! Thank you for posting that. I will get right on your questions and see what Dad can recall. I myself cannot answer them. I knew Corletta and Bea my entire life. I realize now that it’s been more than ten years since I last visited with Corletta, but I still recall it as though it were yesterday. I surely knew your parents. Could you enlighten me?
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June 8, 2013 at 8:10 pm
David,
My parents are Rita and Billy Bridges. Rita is Corletta’s second child. There’s Anita (Boni), Rita, Dennis, Darrell & Debra (Debbie). Boni Wagers is what Boni is on Facebook. Rita Bridges is what Rita is on Facebook. Corletta is now living in Holts Summit, MO as do Dennis and Darrell. Corletta was married to Earl Winder (he passed away in 2008) If there is anymore info I can share ask and if I have it I will share
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June 13, 2013 at 7:38 pm
Sorry for my slow response, Sherry. I’m neck-deep in workshop activity now. I remember very well Boni, Rita, Dennis and Darrell. I spoke by phone with Corletta several years ago. She phoned my parents house while I was visiting, and they were not home, so she and I chatted for over an hour, catching up on everything.
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June 14, 2013 at 12:42 am
Rita and Boni live in Jefferson City, MO and Denny and Darrell live in Holts summit mo, Debbie lives in NC Grandma lives in Holts summit behind Darrell…if you ever make it up this way let me know and I’ll get the family all together
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June 8, 2013 at 8:13 pm
Do you remember family reunions and did you ever come over to Trail of Tears State Park? We used to camp out all the time there. I currently live in Lake Ozarks Mo are you still in Jackson / Cape area?
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June 13, 2013 at 7:40 pm
Yes, I went to the Trail of Tears reunions many, many times. I stopped after 1977 when I moved to Texas, but did attend one more back around 1993 or ’94. I envy your l;iving in the Ozarks. I have been in the Dallas/Fort Worth region since ’77.
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June 21, 2014 at 1:16 pm
Just a heads up that all of grandmas (Vivian Corletta) kids will all be together on July 4th of this year in Jefferson City…and so will all of us grandkids and great grandkids and great great grandkids…if you are in the area let me know and I will sneak you over to say hello
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May 16, 2014 at 10:27 am |
Hi David! We are distantly related. My maiden name was Darla June Yow. My father(deceased) was Raymond Yow, son of William Thomas ‘Tom’ Yow and Mary Ann Tripp Yow. Willis was Mary Ann’s brother. I grew up in Cape Girardeau MO, but am currently living in IL. I was at Willis Tripp’s funeral when I was in high school. After the funeral, we all went to the house for a meal after. Rena or Aunt Renie as my father called her was still living at the time. I believe she had one daughter still living with her, but I don’t remember her name. I am not sure how old you are David, but perhaps you may have been at that funeral. The service was held in a small church in Cape I think.
I also knew Uncle ‘Jug’, quite the character. My dad took me to visit him at his home in Cape a few times. My mother told me that the Tripp boys always played the music for the square dances they had out at Moccasin Springs (now Trail of Tears Park). My mother, Mary Bell Johnson Yow Maupin (deceased), recalled her mother, Ella Burns Johnson, putting paraffin shavings on the floor before the dances. They lived in a house that had a round room and that is where they danced. My grandfather on my mother’s side, James Johnson, was the square dance caller and the Tripp boys provided the music. Mom later married my dad, who was a cousin to the Tripp boys through his mother Mary Ann Tripp who died very young around 1930. My dad was only 17 when she died. I have one photo of her. She was a beautiful woman.
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May 16, 2014 at 10:41 am |
Hello Darla. Thank you for finding me. I have posted a much longer response to you on the page of my blog where you posted, if you would like to read all of that. I would love to talk further with you.
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June 21, 2014 at 1:13 pm |
Darla is there anyway you could share copies of the pictures you have of the family? I am trying to work on our family tree and put pictures with each person. You can reach me at mm59ss71@yahoo.com or you can send regular mail to me at 930 Osage Beach, MO 65065…thank you Sherry Monroe
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May 16, 2014 at 10:39 am |
Hi Darla, We have a thousand things to talk about. My email is dmtripp2000@yahoo.com. I was at Willis Tripp’s funeral and dinner afterward, so we were together on that day. I just turned 60. As I recall, I was in upper elementary school when grandpa died (or maybe junior high–I don’t recall the year). Rena died in a house fire in 1977. I am amazed to read of these musical connections the Tripp boys had. In fact, you solved a mystery concerning an off-color song Ralph liked to perform (we always wondered what the “shavings” were all about!). Yes, Uncle Jug remained a mess throughout his life. He also died tragically in Missoula, Montana. My dad is still living (Jerry, but he went by his middle name Denzil, or many called him “Dang”). I did not know that Moccasin Springs preceded Trail of Tears Park, but I do remember I was a small child when that new park was established. I was born in Cape Girardeau, but my parents moved to St. Louis when I was two, in search of a better life. Dad followed his brother Leonard to that big city, hearing that he could make better money as an auto mechanic there than in Jackson or Cape. I’m going to forward all your stories to Dad; he will be fascinated to hear about all this and to learn of you. Thank you so much for finding me on my blog. I live in Arlington, Texas.
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