The first thing that I noticed when I got to Traverse City were the lights on the radio towers that twinkle over the city at night. I had saved my largest canvas with the intention somehow capturing these in a nocturne, but wasn’t sure where… that is until I was driving back from Sleeping Bear Dunes at midnight and drove past the ABC 7/4 station. I immediately knew that this was my spot. The following night, I drove out at 11PM and set up my easel on the far side of their lawn and began frantically painting (as all of our work was due the following morning). Within 30 minutes, two squad cars pulled up to investigate a call that someone suspicious was trespassing on the station’s property, which of course meant me. Thankfully, it all worked out in the end, and the cops helped broker an agreement with the station to let me continue painting. I worked until 3:30AM, but it felt like no time at all.
The whole interaction made me think of my father, Glen Moberg, who was a renowned broadcast journalist in central wisconsin. He loved the night, and seeing the tower lights that carried his stories out to the community. He once told me that the purpose of life is to tell good stories, and that the only way to tell a good story is to go out into the world and have a meaningful experience.
I miss him deeply.
