Good Neighbors

"Good Neighbors" (Andy's view)

Acrylic 18" x 24"

This painting was inspired by my recent trip to Cushing and the Olsen family cemetery.   The rock to the left was actually off to the right and would have been out of the picture but I wanted to include it.  In my mind, I've seen a painting by Andrew Wyeth of an erratic boulder.  I've no idea if this was the one or if my memory is faulty, but in my mind, it added to the composition and is also a testament to how hard farmers worked to clear their land along the rocky coast

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The barbed wire fence was an addition, not there in reality.  A memory from exploring the fields where I grew up. Perhaps a reminder that this is Wyeth country and no one will ever approach his talent, sensitivity, love and familiarity of the subject and his friends.

I freely admit, that for years I paid little, if any attention, to the art of Andrew Wyeth.  Reproductions of work abound.  Personally, I prefer more color - from his earlier works.  However, when I began my own artistic journey - a day at a time for more than twenty years now - and as I continued to experience loss - as do we wall - and expressing myself through my art I developed an entirely new understanding of and an appreciation for Andrew Wyeth.

The Wyeth center in Rockland, at the Farnsworth Museum, is a treasure and it's well worth the trip to see the art of the Wyeth family. One of my favorite paintings is the Witching Hour - seen below.

                  

 I also recently picked up a used copy of Wyeth at Kuerners - it provides a glimpse behind the curtain, of the artists working methods and process.  I've always been attracted to the "unfinished" - the work of an artist caught up in an inspirational moment where perhaps the composition isn't really considered, but what caught the artists eye is captured in a way seldom captured again in the finished painting.   It's also equally telling to see what the artist has decided to leave out, to simplify, or to relocate in order to strengthen the pictorial interest.

It's been a particularly productive few weeks, with half a dozen paintings completed or nearly so.