This is a painting I recently finished, a small piece, only 4″ square on paper. It’s a mix of landscape and very uncomplicated still life with stark but distinct elements throughout. There’s a simplicity that runs through this scene that covers a depth of feeling, a pang from the heart.
I sat this aside for a day or two after finishing it and found myself coming back to it. There was a familiar tone to it that reminded me of something that I couldn’t quite identify until this morning when I walked into the studio. I looked at it as I sat down and instantly said to myself, “Far From Me.”
It was the old John Prine song from his first album which came out forty years back, in 1971. There was something in this piece that filled me the feeling of Prine’s lyrics of gradual loss:
And the sky is black and still now
On the hill where the angels sing
Ain’t it funny how an old broken bottle
Looks just like a diamond ring
But it’s far, far from me
This piece will probably always be that song now for me, a personal avatar for a song buried deep inside and often forgotten. Funny how things work…
Here’s Far From Me done by Jamestown Ferry, a Berlin, Germany based duo who performs Americana music as well as traditional Scotch and Irish music. It’s a lovely and faithful version.
Redtree Times 