"Birthing"... the Unexpected

Single Birth... to Twins and Finally to Triplets

What began as just another small easel painting, quite randomly morphed into a joyous voyage of adventure and discovery. It was a totally impromptu and unplanned metamorphosis, but in the end, it represents an artistic and personal statement that I have tried to live by and promote throughout my journey.

The single 8x10 inch birch cradle board panel in itself was a pleasing and rewarding  venture... but the more that I stared at it on the easel as it dried... the more my mind played with the notion that something remained unsaid. It was this notion that persuaded me to consider adding a second panel in a vertical position to develop the barn-scape into a farm-scape diptych to include the homestead.

That was achieved quite easily by simply paying close attention to the abutting edges... the background and to the scale of the barn to the homestead. Tonality and light also had to be carefully considered in setting up a continuum which "read " as a believable  sense of "place".

The success in achieving these first two random mutations encouraged to "push the envelope" further to explore the possibility of creating a triptych. I felt that the additional third panel would likely best be placed to the left side. The questions that remained to be considered in planning before I could proceed were size... format and subject matter. I slept on it overnight.

During my morning coffee ritual, I struck upon the idea of including a sugar shack for several reasons. First of all, the generic Ontario version... topped by ventilator would serve as a strong vertical component... along with some carefully "planted" maples to stop the eyes abruptly and thrust them upward and then back to the middle of the composition making use of branches joining the two left hand panels.

As I demonstrated yesterday,... a prelim notan ink sketch easily mapped the structure adequately enough to show the whole composition. The white chalk on toned black panel allowed me to "play" with the drawing... sans any strong worry about making mistakes or in the placement of forms.

Here is the "newborn" triptych at completion... with "all of its fingers and toes intact."

"Rural Requiem... for a Vanishing Landscape"

A Triptych oil on toned birch cradle boards

10 x 26 inches

A Triptych... or a Trilogy???

I have continued in my struggle to demonstrate throughout my life... and educational career through my pedagogy and in my consulting capacity following that the Arts are INTEGRATED. Though the language for each discipline indeed varies... the premise and the process upon which each is created... conducted and depends upon is the same. 

Whether one creates or appreciates... one is involved and appealed to through one or more of the senses. Poetry paints pictures in words. Novels create worlds... events...lives... conversations and people which transport and engage the reader for endless hours. Music in all of sits various genres from classical ... pop to opera can achieve like purposes and results. Genre depends only open opportunity or taste.

The various genres which form the discipline we call visual arts ranging from drawing... painting to sculpture can be used for the same story-telling purposes. Language for us all... commenced with telling our first stories and representing our first thoughts and emotions using our pictures. Somewhere... in early childhood education, most children cease this practice... most likely due either to poor classroom instruction, or more likely because they felt inadequate, or were belittled in their efforts.

To close out today's post, I humbly offer that this triptych above is a vehicle for telling a story that is important to me. As a matter of fact... I consider it to be a trilogy... as valid and as imaginatively created as Harry Potter. Unlike books written in English... my three graphic books are best read beginning right to left. Though the landscape lacks the presence of people... as do most of my paintings... human presence is assumed and revealed through the landscape and the man made architecture that rests upon it.

I will relate none of the details of my story to you. Let us say that this triptych-trilogy is fictional... which is partly true. I have created this "mind's scape" totally from my imagination. I used no existing physical references to create this project. The references did exist...in landscapes that I was privileged to visit. Like so many historically-significant, heritage buildings... they have simply vanished. Stolen by Modernity!

This is a sad tale... and it seems to be occurring and more often, and far faster than before."I" am a minstrel of sorts... travelling through a short space in Time... gathering bits n' pieces of the best we have achieved in our culture. I am sharing/carrying this story... and many others in each and every post and painting. I am hoping that what I record still matters... to someone. Heritage and culture define our uniqueness our sense of  meaning and our place in history.

What does this story in my triptych say to you?

I wonder...... and would love to hear from you.

Good Painting!... and Storytelling ... ALL!!