A Painters Journey

For this, my 11th year as a competition artist, I decided to explore some parts of the Eastern Shore where I hadn't yet painted. The first weekend we were allowed to go where ever we wanted on the Shore and I chose to explore Caroline County. 

 This was my first painting, started on Friday after we had our canvases stamped and completed on Sunday (meaning I had to miss the Oxford Paint-out....a very hard choice). I was enjoying the chance to explore our neighboring Caroline County and as I was driving down a country road something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was the light coming through a window of this deserted farmhouse. Funny how small visual clues will tell you a whole story. Instantly I knew that the house was deserted just from that small clue. You only see whole windows lit like that when a room is empty. Rooms with furniture will break up the light into many shapes and values. A further look revealed that the crops had been planted all the way up to the front door ( no need for a yard when no one is living there) and the road was beginning to fill with weeds. A slightly melancholy theme (passage of time, possible death of the owner, scattering of family, just moving on) the shapes, the design and the window convinced me it had to be painted. While standing there some farmworkers stopped by and told me that "old Farmer Dean's" place had been sold to someone from Talbot County. So maybe the house will fill again, or maybe it will just be allowed to deteriorate while a new farmhouse is built. Or maybe no one will live on the land. So perhaps  this painting is a homage to the past or an exploration of the theme of constant change. I don't know, I just liked it!