The Fading Days Of Summer

                                                       One Last Ride To The Old Schoolhouse
                                                       An original acrylic painting, on gesso-primed panel
                                                        10" X 18", unframed

                                                          ( click on image to enlarge )

     The summer is already in it's waning days, and we wonder again why the time seems
to fly by so much faster with each passing year.  Some of us may have accomplished all
that we had planned to do in these warm  "carefree", fun days, but many of us are starting
to realize that many of our dreams and hopes of summer are fading sadly away, as our
attention focuses on preparations for students going back to school.  James Dent is
quoted as saying that "A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is
blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken."  But chores can't be
avoided forever, and now duty is calling, however unwelcome and loud the sound of
the school-bells may be.  It's time to dust off the books and try to prepare our young
people for whatever disasters are going to be handed to them by our willfully ignorant,
political leaders.

     The painting hearkens back to a time when life seemed much simpler in retrospect.
I have done several paintings of this historic, one-room schoolhouse, in the tall-grass
prairie of Kansas.   I would say these paintings are mostly mood pieces, trying to
capture the feeling of the isolation and loneliness of the little building's windswept,
hilltop setting.  However, in this version, I decided to give more structure to the
composition, by adding the figurative element in the lower left, which creates an
informal balance with the building in the upper right of the painting.

     Perhaps this version also lends more of a story element to the painting, as a
viewer might wonder whether the rider is an older rancher, making a nostalgic
visit back to the school where he learned his ABC's.

     For those who may be interested in having a print of this painting but who
require it to fit a more standard size frame, I believe the central portion of the
painting works fairly well as a print.  As I show below, very little of the mood is lost
in this 8" X 10" print of the painting.

Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer

                                                     The Summer Goldfinch
                                                     An original acrylic painting, on gesso primed panel
                                                     9" X 12", unframed

                                                         ( click on image to enlarge )

     The title of this posting comes from an early 1960's, popular-song recorded by
Nat King Cole.  The song itself was not a musical treasure, but Cole had a way of
making mediocre material more palatable for pop-music fans.  It was that song title
which came to mind again during this year's forth of July celebrations, as the thunderous
booming of neighbor's fireworks continued until 3 AM of the following morning, reminding
me that the crazy days of summer have definitely arrived. Those interminable, loud
blasts and explosions are one of the traditional, childhood joys of summer, which loose
all of their appeal as we age.  That song title tells something of our universal, love/hate
feelings about the traditional attractions of the summer season.

     Russel Baker expressed that dichotomy when he said, "Ah, summer, what power
you have to make us suffer and like it."  On the plus side of the traditional pleasures
of the summer season, we can enjoy such outdoor activities as; sports and games,
picnics and barbecues, camping out and watching the magic of the fireflies, going
hiking on woodland, nature trails, wild berry picking, and fishing and going skinny-dipping
in invitingly cool lakes and streams.  And many summer dreamers have fond memories
of backyard evenings spent making homemade ice-cream with a hand-cranked freezer,
or toasting marshmallows over an open fire.  But then on the other hand, we have all
of the discomforts of the summer, which tend to limit or ruin the enjoyment of those
traditional summertime pleasures.  There are always the days and nights of oppressive
heat and humidity, in addition to the mosquitoes, chiggers, ticks, and dozens of other
creepy crawlies and pests, as well as the poison ivy, and sticky thorns and burrs,
enough to keep us scratching our bites and wounds for hours after we have returned
from our summer outings.

     The Summer Goldfinch painting, shows a male American goldfinch after he has
discarded his dull, olive, winter wear, and put on his summertime, party plumage of
bright yellow.  This is a good time of year to put some extra sunflower seeds in the
feeder for them.  An then when you are seated in a shaded, comfortable, patio chair,
( while the humidity condenses on the sides of your iced beverage, and makes a puddle
on the patio table, and you swat a mosquetoe or two ), you can watch these flashy gold,
summer visitors and listen to their soft chirping.  Their gentle, little songs are much more
soothing to the soul than the exploding blasts of firecrackers.