DUNE GRASS, acrylic on canvas, 18×24
SOMETIMES a series of paintings with similar themes emerge without design or provocation.
I have long been drawn to the dense flora and fauna populating field and meadow, the myriad lives existing on the periphery of sound and sight. Wherever I am, in whatever season, the grasses brim with drama and purpose, providing sustenance and shelter to a host of “b’s” — birds, bugs, bees, butterflies, bacteria — largely hidden, yet on whom my own welfare depends.
The grasses are alive with movement: lush, impenetrable, tethered to the earth but undulating in the softest breeze, arcing from flower to seed at every angle.
I never set out to make a study of grasses. Yet these three recent paintings all depict some aspect of this rich and diverse landscape.
“Dune Grass” is a beauty!
Thank you, Henry! I appreciate the feedback. Stay well, stay warm.
Deep in the Grass feels ominous to me. Was that intentional?
The other two are filled with joy!
Thank you, Arch. There is an element of the unknown in seemingly innocuous places like deep grass, enough to keep most people from exploring very thoroughly. There are lives hidden in there, some of which crawl or sting or bite! It’s beautiful and compelling, but foreign all the same. A broad brush look at our complex relationship with nature …