"Blue Road" 30 x 30 oil on canvas There is something magical about roads which, in the distance, gently turn and disappear. One is left with the mystery of what a traveller might discover on such a road; Robert Frost certainly chose one. One of my favourite poems, "Curiosity," contrasts the stodgy "dog" (who prefers "well-smelt baskets and suitable wives") and the adventurous "cat" (who needs all nine lives because curiosity causes him "to die again and again/ Each time with no less pain"). I know myself to be a dog but I do admire cats, and I do stand and ponder paths which meander away.
This particular oil is based on a photograph I took a century ago on Salt Spring Island. We had rented a house near the north end of the island; naturally, Jon had brought his bike and his fishing rod so he was often away and I was happy to to paint or to hike the almost deserted road. It was an unusually grey winter and the area was heavily forested. But one day the sun broke through and turned the road blue. This painting is a celebration of that moment.
This particular oil is based on a photograph I took a century ago on Salt Spring Island. We had rented a house near the north end of the island; naturally, Jon had brought his bike and his fishing rod so he was often away and I was happy to to paint or to hike the almost deserted road. It was an unusually grey winter and the area was heavily forested. But one day the sun broke through and turned the road blue. This painting is a celebration of that moment.
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