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"The Rose"
Circa 1980, 10" x 10"
Oil on canvas board
Artist's Collection
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"Loaded With Dynamite"
1989, 18" x 24"
Oil on canvas board
Artist's Collection
"Loaded With Dynamite"
One fall afternoon my sister Kathy, my two nieces, my daughter, and I took a trip to the
countryside to visit Grandpa. My sister owned a somewhat rickety two-wheeled cart, and she asked Grandpa to show
us how to hitch Sugar, a miniature horse, to the cart. After much rigging and rearranging of the harness, the cart was
finally ready for a ride.
Holly, Casey, and Lexi piled onto the cart, one by one. Grandpa's laugh rang out. "Hee,
hee, she's loaded with dynamite," he said. Until that day, I thought "Dynamite" had been Grandpa's special name
for only me; many years later I learned that he had probably called each of us grandkids and great-grandkids by
that name.
Grandpa led Sugar to the lane between the garden and the house, then out to the county road.
Kathy got into the driver's seat, and then they were off. I followed on foot with the camera--it appeared that
it was a wild ride down the dusty road. Cart and kids wound up in Uncle's yard, where they were safely turned around
by Kathy and my helpful Uncle Claud.
This painting commemorates that autumn afternoon full of memories. Thanks Grandpa.
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"Shadows of the Past"
Circa 1978, 16" x 20"
Oil on canvas board
Artist's Collection
"Shadows of the Past"
This painting came to be in just one afternoon, when I lived at Rose Hill.
I could see an old rock wall in the field across the road, so I grabbed my artist's gear and strode
through the cow pasture toward the wall; it was a disappointment, so I journeyed on to an old building nearby, which
was perched at the top of a small hill. It was obviously an abandoned house.
As I set up my easel and got out my paints, I thought about the people that may have lived there.
I thought about their lives and loves, their happinesses and sadnesses. I wondered what stories this old house could
tell, if only it could speak of the things it had witnessed.
As I painted the scene, the sun began to wane and the shadows grew long. I wielded the brush hurriedly
to capture the essence of the moment before it disappeared with the fading sun.
Today, when I look at this painting, I can still feel the quiet stillness of that afternoon wash over me.
The "Shadows of the Past" are long, and reach out for me over the years.
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