October and the rampant heat of summer is finally letting go. There’s a little color coming into the trees but it seems muted against the slate grayness of the clouds that are bringing us some much needed rain. The change of seasons seems to be upon us and soon the green of the grass will be a bleached beige and the green clad trees will shed their leaves exposing the bone grey structures of the trees. Color fades and everything takes on a the colors of the earth– shades of gray and brown.
This can make many folks a bit melancholy as they wistfully long for the sun and light of those longer summer days. They want to flee the somber tones of the landscape around them. They get the urge for going.
I understand this feeling. But I more often than not find myself relishing this change of season, the more essential feel of this time of year. I think the somberness of the colors outside the studio help me express the colors I am seeing inside and allows me to use my own urge for going in a constructive manner. I believe that piece at the top is a good example. It’s called Breathing Room. and is an 18″ by 24″ canvas. It could easily be called Urge For Going as the path moves through a deeply colored foreground toward a light-filled and expansive horizon.
That, of course, brings us to this week’s Sunday morning musical selection. It’s a very early version of Urge For Going from Joni Mitchell. This is taken from a Canadian television program, Let’s Sing Out, that ran from 1963-1967. It was broadcast from various Canadian college campuses and featured many folk performers of the day. Joni Mitchell first appeared on the show in 1965 using her maiden name, Joni Anderson. This particular performance using the more familiar Mitchell is from October of 1966 at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. I think it’s a beautiful rendition of the song, especially for a fifty year old television clip.
So give a listen and consider your own urge for going. Have a great day.
Oh, the painting, Breathing Room is part of my upcoming show, Part of the Plan, which opens October 29 at the Kada Gallery in Erie, PA.
Redtree Times 