Old House by the Road: August 16, 2010

I recently finished this oil on canvas, "Summer House." As I painted the roof in broad swift strokes, applied thick pigment to the corners, and added some warm dabs of color to the windows, I remembered my love - even as a teen-aged artist - for the simple lines of these New England style farmhouses.   I found them everywhere along the rural roads of Central New York. One autumn weekend, when  I needed a subject to draw in my sketchbook for high school art class, my mother and I took an aimless Sunday drive along narrow roads lined with asters and goldenrod. "Stop here!" I yelled. My mother did as directed, but with a shrug and a look that said, "What do you see in that fallen down old house?" But for the next hour, she patiently read the paper while I sketched and wondered: who planted that rose bush, and why did the front door have no step?   On the way home, we cooled off with the car windows opened all the way. My mother suddenly said, "I always did like our old farmhouse better than the new ranchhouse..."