Then it follows that the windows are the soul of the home

Fenetre   oil/canvas board   8 x 8
It has been said the eyes are the windows of the soul.  Attributed perhaps to Shakespeare or Leonardo.


The eye is the window of the soul, the mouth the door. The intellect, the will, are seen in the eye; the emotions, sensibilities, and affections, in the mouth. The animals look for man's intentions right into his eyes. Even a rat, when you hunt him and bring him to bay, looks you in the eye. Hiram Powers, American sculptor (1805 - 1873)


The window is the twixt-tween between the interior and the exterior, the entrance or the exit.  The yin and the yang.  We are either outside looking in, or inside looking out.  Simple yet profound.  While wandering on the grounds of the John Brown home in Hudson, I came upon this small window in one of the out buildings.  The lace curtain told me a bit about the owner.  The window itself reflected the warm green of the surrounds.  The shutters hung imperfectly.  This simple image is very beautiful to me.  Stream of consciousness might have something to do with it as I have spent several summer weekends re-painting the shutters of our own 150-year-old dwelling.  Those same shutters.  Constructed from wood.  Hand-doweled together.  Layers of paint telling the story of many updates.  Genius in fact.  As I scrape and paint, I think about how long it took just to make one shutter.  Patience.  Endurance.  Part of the Past yet living in the present.  So many stories.  It was my own story, I think, that connected me to this one.