Voices

Today I reframed a painting that I have had around awhile. Well, I haven't had it so much as it's been had in various places. Cincinnati, Knoxville, Kansas City. It has either hung in galleries or been in an outdoor show somewhere unsold for the past year or so.

If you could be the painting for a moment you would see your situation to be uncomfortably similar to being a puppy at the pound. You're scouting for that special couple to pick you out of the herd, bond with you as they get their face licked before wisking you off to your new home. Maybe the gallery owner wouldn't use that metaphor but you see what I'm saying.

As a painter you create work from experiences or places that speak to you for one reason or another, but you can't know if a viewer will hear what you heard. Sometimes a painting you have doubts about will get snatched up immediately. On the other hand you might think you just reached a great new plateau in artistic accomplishment only to find no one noticed. I guess that's the nature of tastes and preference.

Anyway, this painting, Dawn After the Rain is one of my favorites, partially because it represents one of my favorite places in the world. It is painted from photos I took along the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 440 mile stretch of blacktop from Natchez MS to Nashville TN. Maintained by the National Park Service, it's a ribbon of unspoiled beauty. If you drive it on a summer evening with the windows down, or better yet, the top down, you'll get glimpses of fireflies and whiffs of cut hay. And if you're old like me, you'll remember what taking a ride used to mean. I've painted many places along the Parkway and know there are many more waiting to speak as I pass by.

Pictured above, Dawn After the Rain, 12x16, oil on canvas, available $850.