I don't normally paint local landscapes; everything is usually just green. For ten years I have passed this scene and just noticed it last Sunday--I liked the farm on the hill--so I went out with my camera Monday. Seventy-mile-an-hour winds and no sun; I held onto my camera as I held onto the flagpole at The Tabernacle. Everyone blew their horns, a form of greeting here in SOVA. (Whoever you were, I couldn't wave back.) I rode up to the farm--it's abandoned--the house, barn, and outbuildings are falling down. Sad. This was an area of tobacco farms and textile mills--beautiful country with rolling hills, creeks and rivers. |
| Tabernacle Road in Winter, oil on gessoed w/c paper, 18x24 |
I used the photo as reference but much got eliminated and even tombstones got moved. My original pastel sketch reminded me of Thomas Hart Benton.
hmm..........Thursday was my birthday and I was painting a graveyard.
Posts
First of all Happy Birthday to you!
ReplyDeleteThe road in you painting is leading to a house I want to explore. Did you go in?
Hi Carole. The road is actually Tabernacle Road (it's curvy) and the house has a gravel driveway. I tried to add a photo of the house and barn, but Blogger can't find my Picasa file (new computer). The house and buildings are falling down--rotted floor and windows out; you wouldn't be able to explore. I think the tin roof is holding it together. I remember visiting the family who lived here many, many years ago.
ReplyDeleteHallie! Happy Birthday! Well, graveyards are my "2nd" passion. I really love them. I've loved them since a was a little kid..(this made my Mother think there was (is) something wrong with me..lol). I love your painting. It's not just the graveyard that I enjoy here--and also the "depth" of it all. The contrasts of big and small, near and far, light and dark really make the whole painting work for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely painting of a lovely countryside, it IS sad, when places like this is just let to fall apart. And Hallie HAPPY BIRTHDAY from another fellow pisces!:-))
ReplyDeleteHappy healthy belated birthday, Hallie. Do I dare ask how old are you now?!
ReplyDeleteHmmm..... a stark landscape, but with freshly flowered tombstones; gray sky, bare trees, with absolutely beautiful transitions in the rolling hills of the land. You captured such warmth in the land.
Looks to me like you had a grand birthday painting! Surely the best kind.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful landscape Hallie, looks like home. You have a way in particular with trees and sky.
It's reaching me at a very deep level. The term "surreal" comes to mind--the Dali references are incredible for their subtlety. Something dark is melting over roadway and 'down' to the sunken field, populated by a 'congregation' of graves (decorated in their finest florals, their Sunday best). The 'preacher' in the 'pulpit' is that dead tree looming, characteristically, over the congregation, and the way home is not clear. It's sinking out of sight in the background. Even the road dissappears. This is one of the most powerful visual statements I've ever seen--stark, ruthlessly honest, and in you face. And I'm in absolute agreement. Jacob Marley couldn't have given us a better warning. Thank you for this most incredible work of art. I know you're offering it out of love. William
ReplyDeletePS--I was so taken by this, I forgot to wish you a very Happy BD. I think we're the ones that got the present. Thanks again. Wm
ReplyDeleteHi Celeste. I thought of you when I was painting the graveyard; I know you like visiting them. This is a very small one that's behind the church. Thanks for the comment, I was worried that the painting had too much--light, dark, large, small.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jane. It is sad when things deteriorate, but that's what I found appealing. Happy Birthday to you.
Hi Robin--you can ask. 69! It is a stark landscape, thanks to a drought in this area. We didn't get the snow that fell on most of the country. The flowers on the stones were probably placed at Christmastime.
Pam, thanks. I spent the birthday week painting--still playing with those water-soluble oils. My only dark was Ultramarine so the trees are a bit "purpley."
William. Wow! I like your version; I can see it and feel it. I was certainly not conscious of what I was painting--I knew the scene was uncomfortable and sad, yet there was beauty. Maybe it's the "preacher's daughter" in me; being near a church stirs lots of memories. I do have a love of this area, and remember when The Tabernacle was just a tent where revivals were held--a mile from my childhood home. Thank you for your comment.
ReplyDelete!st things 1st--HB2U, HB2U, HB dear Hallie, HB2U!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't believe you're 69. I have a friend who started to lie about her age when she turned 30 and told everyone she was 40. Theory was, "wow, you look 10 years younger!".
This is a landscape rich for the viewing. I'm not surprised the sketch reminded you of THB; the painting itself is very Bentonesque. And as William said, very Dalisque. You've struck a bass chord with this one; we all feel it.
Hi SamArtDog. So...I should give my age as 79? My mother said I was born old and serious so I actually get younger (more childlike?) each year. Thanks for the comment and the song--I've never seen the abbreviated version. I'll use it if I can remember it.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! That's new information. I am a preacher's kid, too. No wonder I had such a reaction! Of course! I've seen that scene and thought those thoughts way too often!!
ReplyDeleteBut thank God for Dennis. We used to sit in the back until dad walked up the isle about midway through the first hymn, and then sneak out until about midway through the last hymn. And then we'd sneak back in, in time for dad to come back down the isle. We'd be down the railroad tracks smokin and watching the freight trains. I don't know why I'm telling you this--just thought it would fit in.
Wm
Ah, William--the PK Smokers' Club, it was the only way to rebel in the 50s. Even before my dad went to seminary when I was 12, strict rules and going to church were a way of life. Small churches offered no way to sneak out.
ReplyDeleteFor better or worse, childhood sticks like flies on horse crap. Your read on this painting is scary; I had no idea why a Johnny Cash CD brought tears as I was finishing Tabernacle. Now I see the evergreens as the choir. Thanks.
Hi Hallie, Happy Belated Birthday! Your paintings have some of the same powerful feel as a Hopper to me. Thomas Hart Benton, I can see the resemblance in the final version too. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHow fortunate the world is that three wonderful people I know were born in March and one of them is you! We are all blessed to be able to enjoy your creativity. This landscape is a real treat. Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wish I could be as deep a thinker as you two, but then I'd never get any sleep. Just stopped to wish you a happy BirthDay ! and many many more !
ReplyDeleteHow about the organist in the robe over on the side and the deacon (dead shrub)right under the pulpit. Ooooo Johnny Cash? This just keeps getting better. Unbelievabele.
ReplyDeleteYup. 12 years old. We were cutting through a grave yard (I kid you not) and my buddy Scott whips out a pack of Salems. I took a big hit and down I went--out cold for a couple minutes. My first smoke. Didn't quit til I was 37.
Thank you Peggy. I am really enjoying your "Reclamation" series.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue. I have always had trouble sleeping--even went to the sleep lab at NIH. My head is full of thoughts at 11 p.m. (not deep ones), so I sometimes draw or read until 2 and up at 9. (I pretend I live on the West Coast.)
William. Yes, Johnny Cash, American IV, The Man Comes Around. When I paint I don't hear the music. Finishing a painting means sitting and looking at it--that's when I heard the lyrics.
You quit?
Eva, thank you. March would be a good month if I didn't have to get those tax papers together--I like to get them done by March 15.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!! This is a lovely piece that projects the feeling of a declining yesteryear in late winter. I like the idea of doing oil on gessoed watercolor paper.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary. I went with the paper because I think this might be better with a bit taken off the top--or bottom--or both. I'm playing with the crop tool before I get out the razor blade.
ReplyDeleteI did indeed quit. Practiced for five years until it took. Kept saying, "when them bastards hit a dollar I'm quitting." Used the gum. Kept saying, "I'm not gettin any younger, and besides smoking's for children."
ReplyDeleteIt worked.
William, smart move--healthwise & moneywise.
ReplyDeleteThis is hauntingly beautiful, Hallie. I like William's description. After reading it I had to go look again. And again.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that those flowers were able to withstand that wind you mentioned. You'd think they'd be in another county by now. Speaking of wind, this PK remembers a windy day with 80mph gusts one afternoon in the Texas panhandle. My dad was officiating the funeral of one of the most beloved ladies in the small community we lived in at the time. My job that day was to hold the door for people coming and going. It was one of the hardest jobs I've ever had.
-Don
Thank you, Don. William's description made me look again, too.
ReplyDeleteIn reality the tombstones are smaller and closer to the fence, and protected by hills on all sides. The artificial flowers are attached to the stones with metal "saddles;" they're not going anyplace. I had to stand on a hill in order to include the house and barn; I was grateful for the flagpole. PKs get all the interesting jobs--Dad used some quote about "idle hands........." Someplace I have those pins for perfect attendance at Sunday School.
Surrealistic quality to the painting. The road passes by the graveyard (since I can't underline, I'll say it again: by the graveyard) and looks like it ends at the house--home--comfort--safety. Lovely. Happy birthday Hallie.
ReplyDeleteI really love it alot!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday......
were not getting older, better
Hi Linda. You have the optimist's view, which is nice. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks JB. Another optimist's view. Oddly enough, I think you're right--better.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Hallie! I've enjoyed the painting, visited a few times. There is a strong narrative quality to this painting--like many of your works. The title embellishes the narrative. To to it off, after reading through all the comments, the story gets richer. Your paintings and narrative dish out a slice of southern life for this northeast ohio gal and I just love it!!
ReplyDeleteIndigomar--thank you. I did miss the South and its stories when I was "up North" for forty years. I love the comments and am sometimes surprised at what the others see. I live in the Bible Belt so we have many churches; I've never actually been inside the Tabernacle--it's large and I know some of the members. (And here in SOVA the trees were full of robins today--I thought I was in a Hitchcock movie when I went to the mailbox.)
ReplyDeleteIt's your birthday? Happy birthday! Looks like I'm a little late for this post. At first I looked at it - a comfortable, inviting country painting, so well done. Then, my double-take: the graveyard and the dark trees. An ominous tone to a comfortable scene. Of course, it's Hallie!! A reminder that all is ephemeral. Beautifully done, and uniquely you. Of course, whenever we travel, my wife is always attracted to the graveyards - go figure.
ReplyDeleteHi Dan. This scene is pretty much exactly as I saw it--it's winter, no buds on the trees yet. It was a bit stark but that's what I liked; one day I might switch to cheerful (ha). Thanks for the birthday wishes.
ReplyDeletewonderful
ReplyDeletework
good creations
Thank you, SKIZO.
ReplyDeleteSuperbe travail Hallie ( et bon anniversaire... en retard)
ReplyDeleteOnce again I am so happy that my little pea brain sent the query...'wonder whatz up in SOVA'...as usual...most wonder-filled happenings.
ReplyDeleteHappy Re-Birthday, a week later.
Clearly we're all so glad that you were born...bringing so many fabulously quirky views of the world you move through...enriching us all with even quirkier stories...
The many great comments keep me going back to look and look again...how cool is that!!
Weekend and Brush. Thank you for the comment and for the birthday wishes.
ReplyDeleteHi Donna. No way do you have a pea brain! I've heard that word--quirky--for many, many years. Thank you for the comment.
ReplyDelete