Yesterday on the blog, I showed one of my small pieces from this year’s Little Gems show at the West End Gallery, which opens February 6. I thought I might show another today, this one a little 4″ by 6″ painting called The Outlier’s Home.
It’s a simply constructed piece that features the intense color of the foreground set against the placid blue gradation of the sky with a red-roofed homestead alongside a Red Tree set between the two contrasting forces. It has a feeling of distance and separation but without anxiety or fear.
Maybe that is where the title originated, in this separation. I like the idea of the outlier, that thing or being that is apart from the normal set. An aberration, something slightly outside the norm in one way or another. I think that is why I envision the Red Tree standing alone apart from other trees in many of the paintings.
I like the idea here of a place outside the normal that seems peaceful and accepting of itself, not caring what the world that looks at them from across that purple field thinks. I think that’s what we all hope for in this world– an acceptance for ourselves as we are without having to put on a mask to fit into the crowd.
It’s a lot to see in a simple, little piece. But that’s my take.
Redtree Times 