Homage

I'm afraid my annoyance has far outweighed my appreciation for these large and powerful geese from up north.  After all, their feces seems to be everywhere...including beautiful playgrounds and parks where we take our grandchildren.  I have read recently that these birds defecate every 12 minutes!

But.......while driving home along a dark country road recently, my headlights suddenly picked up a parade of these geese crossing the road ahead of me.  I aimed for a space between 2 birds and drove on through.  I have no idea if I had injured or even killed one of these geese...and, I'm afraid, I will never know.  

What I do know is that my opinion has been forever changed as our paths crossed that night and our humanities merged...their power, grace and vulnerability became mine.
 

Homage   oil/canvas   18 x 18 x 1.5

Old Buildings

Thurman's Guitar and Violin Repair (Kent, OH)   oil/canvas   10 x 20 x 1.5

Thurman's Guitar and Violin Repair on Franklin Avenue in Kent has always held such fascination for me.  I drive past it en route to the post office.  It is a rather dark building with no signs of life within.  Dark.  Mysterious. Wonder regarding the person who has chosen this as his life's work. And the lives of precious instruments housed therein.

It is such a small niche in the complexities of the everywhere flashy businesses we see daily.  It may speak of a simpler time, where neighborhoods housed small businesses to meet the needs of the local community.  

Throughout my painting career, I always procrastinate when it comes to the landscape genre, which has never held much interest to me.  (Shhhh...don't tell the students who come to my classes)  When the landscape assignment rotated around again, I searched quite a long time to find the photo reference shot many years ago.  And, I gotta say, IF we can squeeze this painting into the landscape genre at all, this is my favorite attempt of all times.  Things were kept simple.  Unnecessary elements were squelched.  

I am pleased.  And, by the way, after searching online, I have realized that this business is still in operation.  So....next time you need your guitar or violin repaired...........