Redtree Times

Andrew Wyeth – Fence Line 1967

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.

—Andrew Wyeth

This post ran several years ago. We have yet to feel the true blast of winter here which is fine. However, my feelings on the winter landscape are very much in line with those of Andrew Wyeth. I like that the cold of winter drives most others inside, taking their noise and busyness with them. The stillness and the dark exposed bones of the trees creates that dead feeling as Wyeth puts it.

It reminds me of why I like walking in cemeteries, especially empty ones. As in winter, there’s a peaceful hush over everything. It feels unhurried. And why not? Nobody there is going anywhere. Nor do they have appointments or deadlines.

But the mystery remains. Who were these people? What gave them joy? What stories are buried with them, never to be told again?

It adds a bit of a melancholic edge to the stones and trees.

That feeling certainly permeates Wyeth’s winter scenes. I thought it was worth looking at them again until the snow finally comes to my part of the world.

Andrew Wyeth- Heavy Snow

Andrew Wyeth- Not Plowed 1985

Andrew Wyeth- Farm Pond Study