Stories

Where My Paintings Begin

Why do I travel rural roads again and again? Because meaning comes to me fastest while traveling in the slow lane. always has. Earlier years my observations were gleaned when walking or biking about the countryside. Presently, I am a man in his 80’s puttering slowly around in a little old red car parked at the side of the road waving at faster moving vehicles to pass. Paraphrasing Henry David Thoreau, “I have traveled a good deal in Hancock County”.

I rarely set out looking for a painting. Instead, I wait for a moment that quietly asks to be remembered. It may last only seconds—a shaft of light across weathered boards, the hush before a summer storm, or the glow of evening on a white barn. Those are the moments I carry home and try to preserve with watercolor.

Much like zooming in on Google Maps, slowing down reveals a world most people never notice. Afterall God is in the details. With no demands to keep eyes on the road, ample opportunities avail themselves to enjoy some subtle yet incredibly beautiful things.

Such as, lightning bugs rising out of a bean field at dusk, sunbeams filtering through a farmer’s woods, a dust devil twisting over a freshly cultivated field, fence posts capped with last night’s snow, or waterbugs scurrying about on creeks still water.

In stillness that which appears stationary proves to be temporal. Light animates even stone. Claude Monet devoted an entire series of paintings to showing how changing light transformed ordinary haystacks. A field or barn can become entirely different from one hour to the next. Each day the rural landscape is a kaleidoscope of constantly changing colors.

Light is nature’s wand, instantly turning the ordinary into something extraordinary. Moments later, the magic is gone. That which appears stunningly beautiful seen in different light becomes bland. The heads of sunflowers look East in the morning and West in the afternoon as each turn to face the sun. The West side of a white barn briefly takes on the colors of the sunset.

Every country road offers both the tangible and the intangible. From nature’s trees, grasses, and wildlife to man’s barns, houses, fences, and passageways. At one time or another each are the building blocks of my paintings. But I also capture the amorphous. A picture that refreshes where quiet prevails. Feelings of peace, shared memories, and moods created by the weather. A rest stop for eyes and souls. A time away from the fast moving, noisy chaos of life’s expressway.

Color, action, mystery, learning, and enjoyment abound at the side of a country road more than any screen can offer. Spend a little time in the slow lane. You may find it recharges you far better than recharging your phone.