This painting, a 24″ by 20″ canvas is titled Shadowland. It’s from back in 2003 and has been living with me for almost all of the time since, floating from wall to wall in the studio. It’s been with me for so long that it sometimes go unnoticed and unappreciated for long periods of time. But sometimes I find myself stopping as I am passing it with some other thought in mind.
There are times when I’ll look at it and think, almost dismissively,”It’s just too simple.”
But there are moments like this morning when I find myself completely swallowed by the scene, as though the simplicity of the composition were drawing me close so that it could envelope me in its warm tones.
In those moments, I am entranced, embraced in a colorful atmosphere that surrounds me like a blanket. I am safe. The anger, the anxieties and the cares of the physical world are kept at bay for a moment.
A brief but glorious moment.
And those few seconds give me hope and fill me with energy.
And I find myself wondering how that emotion, that feeling, was hidden in such a simple thing. And I am gladdened that there is that mystery, that it is so far beyond me. I need that mystery, that wonder.
It means that my work is still ahead of me. My task.
And I say, “It’s just too simple.”
But I am not being dismissive this time.
Redtree Times 