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| Tobacco and Tombstones in Turbeville VA, oil on cradled board, 11x14 |
Several years ago I drove west, to where the hills start rolling. I turned north at Turbeville and pulled into a church parking lot to make a phone call--this is what I saw. Luckily I had a camera and got a photo; I immediately knew the title. Of course, in this just-finished painting I moved a few things and deleted others. (And I just noticed that the bottom left of the photo is washed out--I'll need to re-do.)
I had already taken several photos of the beautiful, threatening sky as I was driving. I was the only car on the road so I simply aimed my camera up through the windshield and clicked. Here's one:
I am enjoying the oil paints; I need to learn to be less stingy in squeezing out the paint.
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Hah! I always squeeze out too much it seems and waste some of the paint. I hate that too. Anyway, this is a lovely painting and I do love the title.
ReplyDeleteHi Crimson Leaves. I waste some paint, too, because I squeeze out a little from every single tube--whether I use that color or not. Problem is I don't squeeze out enough of the right colors. I should probably think before squeezing.
DeleteI am drawn toward the rows of crops - tobacco - and seeing the endless swerve takes me on a journey into your painting. Clouds are also one of my favorite ways of traveling into a painting. I sometimes can't see the difference between oils and acrylics although the colors in your painting are lush (is that the difference?)
ReplyDeleteThanks Robin. I've always liked rows of crops, too. I've stopped my car and taken lots of pictures but this was my first attempt at painting them. I'm sure my tobacco farmer friends will ask about my rows and they'll ask if I've forgotten what tobacco plants look like. As a kid I earned money by helping neighbors "fill barns." Sticky stuff but good money and fantastic noontime meals (it was called dinner--never lunch).
DeleteI can't tell the difference between a finished acrylic and oil. When painting, I like the way oil colors can be mixed/changed on the canvas.
I was so pleased to receive this in my email this morning. It's simply gorgeous. It draws the viewer in... I want to be there.
ReplyDeleteI love how you've handled the skyline and the field.
All of it, expertly executed.
The play on words is wonderful.
Thank you PAMO. I took the photo when I was making a last visit to Elvis PHound, a stray who had lived with me for a while and made me smile--his owner had called. It's beautiful country, about 50 miles west.
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't want to be in the tobacco field, but I think the flat part is probably a ball field. There was a picnic shelter, too, that I left out.
A fascinating painting that seems to resonate with hidden meanings. Those clouds are trying to tell me something!! Very well done.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'm sorry I did not comment on your last post - I had seen it, and admired it - time was not my friend this last month. The concept is so unique, so interesting. I could use an assistant too.
Great poem too. It reminded me of the poem by William Carlos Williams, which would be a fitting end for yours:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Thank you Dan. I don't know what the clouds are saying--they eventually broke up and there was no rain. At times the sky looked like cottage cheese.
ReplyDeleteI googled your poet to read the rest of the poem--ha--this is the whole poem. I do have a red wheelbarrow but my white chickens are in a painting I sold. We all need assistants (even assistance sometimes). Keep painting.
wow---what a sky! I can see why you were moved to paint it---so unusual! I love tombstones, myself. They don't seem to carry the same grim message for me that other people assign to them. For whatever reason, whenever I see a tombstone----I'm intrigued. and in a good way. Of course, my mother was always worried that I was "morbid" haha. LOVE the painting--the feeling of distance is right on.
ReplyDeleteThank you Celeste. I think of tombstones as sculpture--probably the only form of sculpture I saw as a child. The Vietnam Memorial in D.C. is a wonderful sculpture, and it's a bit like a tombstone. To us, maybe cemeteries are sculpture gardens.
DeleteWhat a sky! And I like your softer version in the painting - very fluid and interesting :) I often wish I had my camera with me when I am traveling just to get such shots that happen.
ReplyDeleteHi Rhonda. In the painting I was facing east. Standing on that hill, each direction seemed to have its own sky that day.
DeleteI really like your painting. I feel like I'm in the rolling hills of VA and that sky! Ahhhh!
ReplyDeleteThank you CarolKing. I'm glad you felt you were in the rolling hills; some of my friends were reminded of hot days of working tobacco fields. My uncle was worried that he might have flashbacks to his childhood.
DeleteGorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chet.
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