tip toeing towards abstraction

I did this second painting in the new series while thinking, "How close can I get to abstraction without letting go of the landscape concept?" This painting is simple but I hope interesting. In context it is a barn window but alone it is abstract. I think it works either way.

Window #1
Acrylic on canvas
24" x 24"

ImageKind Print

The breakthrough painting

I have struggled in my paintings to find a way to show the intimate relationship between man made structures and the natural environment. I am fascinated by the way the two types of space affect each other. I have had a break through and have begun a new series. I will continue to do my more traditional landscapes that explore the duality of man interacting with his environment and not always acknowledging his impact. I will also start to explore how nature pushes back against man's structures, often committing slow violence against the offending structures. I have begun a series that shows how outbuildings, which are often created for entirely functional reasons become changed by their environment. Water, bugs, and sunlight decay these buildings over a long period of time and, because they are entirely functional and still fulfill their function are not "kept up" by the people who use them. More on these themes in the coming days.

Double Window
Acrylic on canvas
25" x 40"

ImageKind Print

288 and Patterson

This is likely my most successful painting in my Infrastructure series. It is of the intersection of 288 and Patterson Ave. (Route 6) I bicycle on this road all the time. This farm was obviously bigger at some time in the not so distant past. It looks like they tried to make a go of being a nursery or an open air market before the interstate came through. It sort of hits you over the head with the content but I really appreciated the duality of the scene when I first saw it on my bike and I knew I had to paint it.
288
Acrylic on Canvas
28" x 50"
$ 2500
ImageKind Print

Last Farm in Short Pump

This is a large painting of the last farm in Short Pump. I have started a new series that I will begin posting soon. This one is about 4 foot by 6 foot.

I did two other paintings about this scene but this was the most successful. The birds in the painting are chimney swifts.