Thursday, February 13, 2014

Atmosphere

I painted this on my birthday, up in the foothills.  I kind of like the sky and receding hills.  The shrubs and grass in the foreground bother me a little, but that's the nature of shrubs and grass.  I look at these landscapes sometimes, and think of how pastoral they might have looked before the phone poles.  One of the guys I paint with really likes the phone poles, and observes that they will undoubtedly become obsolete and disappear in a few more years.  People who are young now will be old then and they'll look back with fond nostalgia on our paintings of phone poles.  I consider sometimes how my adult life has been marked by the arrival and departure of plastic grocery bags.

I kind of wish it were a valentine.  Maybe inside the house on the first floor, there's a sturdy kitchen table.  On the table is a half-made valentine, lettered and painted, with scraps of ribbon and lace, and that super-fine sparkly glitter.  Some of the glitter will stick to the tabletop for all time and defy every effort to scrub it off.  Kind of like love itself, and what it leaves on your heart.      

3 comments:

  1. I'm in this wee paintings corner. Lots right about it. The grass in front is spectacular. I could try painting that a million times and never pull it off. And the way it blends into the house and hill on the left really helps to separate it from the green hill to the right. Oh, and those trails cutting through - swoon.

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  2. Love this painting! The way you depicted the mountains in the background look great. Had a few minutes this morning to go back and look at more of your art.

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