Robert Frost's wonderfully lyrical and homespun poetry based upon everyday rural human experience has always attracted my attention... clear back to grade eight when "I" was introduced to "The Road Not Taken" ... which remains today my most favourite poem.
I have a book of his Complete Works... that is never far from my bedside. I always find that reading one or two of his works at bedtime is both relaxing,sleep-encouraging and motivate "Me" to think about new painting subjects. It works for "Me"!
Along with the likes of "Upon Stopping by the Woods One Snowy Evening" and his larger masterpiece "The Hired Hand"... Frost's poetic imagery travels beyond the printed word and presents the reader with strong visual and emotional landscapes which "The Common Man" can identify with.
There is never a painting foray when "I" don't encounter something in the landscape that triggers a memory of a line... or of an entire poem. From a stone fence that needs mending... to a simple pasture... to a woodpile waiting to be carried indoors... Frost's verse records these simple blessings... of a simpler time and place... and passes them forward.
They still exist... to be rediscovered as many of us do... on our painting journeys and we record them faithfully in pigment. "We" are the minstrels of our Time. What we "see" and "feel" in recording barns, mills,sountry stores, sugar shanties, farmhouses and even the open landscape will not exist by the end of our own lifetimes. Most are, or will be swept away by the urban sprawl of developers who place no value on heritage or solitude.
Frost's body of work has had a huge impact in creating my own respect for "The Land", farming and farmers and for recognizing and enjoying the very simple blessings that can be found everywhere you care to look."I" challenge "You" to paint with these ideas in mind. Your painting "Voice" is important as a conduit to the future. Paint what "You" love... with commitment and pride. Don't worry about what others might think!Paint to enrich and please your Self!
"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged at a yellow wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference".
-Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken
And for "Me"... it has made all the difference.
I am truly blessed!
"Don't blame life.
Blame the way you choose to live it!
-Bugle
Good Painting to All!
Bruce
