FIRE!!!!!!!

Heartland   oil/canvas   30 x 48 x .5

Dussel farm's barn burned to the ground a week ago.  I was painting that afternoon in my studio.  Breaking my solitude was a rash of sirens that carried on for what seemed to be hours.  It wasn't until the next day that we realized their source.  We were saddened for the Dussel family and for our community, a township that was once rural and now being overtaken with housing developments and commercial properties.  I have painted this barn many times....this last one, "Heartland" makes it the focal point.  

I painted the beautiful rolling hills where Walmart now reigns.

I painted the spires on an aging barn....spires that were removed a few months later for safety reasons, I believe.

While viewing my own work in retrospect, I usually take note of how my process has evolved.  But an event like this brings to mind an historical viewpoint that I have never really consider....subjects of paintings that no longer exist...rolling hills, spires, people and, yes, barns.  Time marches on.

Heartland can be seen at Gallery C  in Raleigh.

Dussel Farm...

Dussel Farm in February   watercolor   8.25 x 23.25

Is a local farm that we frequent for sweet corn, pumpkins and the like.  My children passed it on the school bus each day.  The Dussel children were classmates.  There aren't so many farms like it anymore.  It is monumental to me.  "Dussel Farm in February" was painted at the end of last winter from reference photos shot across the street.  I like the horizontal format as it implies the unending lay of the land.

Home..

Dussel Farm in February   watercolor   8.25 x 23.25

Sense of place is so important to our well being.  I am fortunate to be able to work in silence in my studio and to feel a part of the outside natural world through the large windows.  It took many years for me to feel comfortable in our rural community.....I think we were "newbies" for the first twenty years.  I believe that is why moving is often difficult, even traumatic.  I have known a few people whose constant childhood moves have impacted them negatively for the rest of their lives.  HOME.  The farms around us have gradually been selling off and becoming housing developments.....although I try to keep in mind how happy these new homeowners are to have their own part of the American Dream,  I know in my heart that I prefer looking at pastures.  Thomas Moore states in The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life:

     I would wish to be a member of a community that judged itself on the happiness of its children rather than on      the unhindered flow of its mechanical inventions.

Dussel Farm is one of the hearts of our community.  We pass it almost daily.  We buy corn, bird seed and pumpkins there.  Our children schooled with theirs.  "Dussel Farm in February" is heartfelt.  My last winter landscape of the season.