Stable Light

2013

30" X 24"

Oil on Panel

SOLD

A few Octobers ago.
Betsy asked if I wanted to get a look see into the barn…
so we met up on middle road.
It was a peaceful morning
warm sunshine and soft wind
with a hint of dark roast.

I had painted the outside of this barn from the road
with wing-like hay loft doors open to the freshening ocean air
and the generous pastoral view that welcomes the common up-island traveler.

But this invitation privied me the gift
of walking through the weathered doors
and into the working stable
where the muses practically knocked my proverbial socks off.

I know there was conversation, a tour of sorts,
and then a walkabout to see the rest of the farm
and those glorious reposing steers
who hold court in their stone walled pasture…
and there was a pond
and a porch
a hidden doll house
and some stellar views…
but all I wanted was to get back inside that barn.

Then time passed.

Like so many paintings, especially lately,
this one tried several times to make it from sketchbook to easel.
It was even shortlisted for a year or so
but I know now that I wasn’t ready.

That is not a simple lesson.
But, it helps me to understand the term, “Mature Artist”
which is mostly about knowing when to get out of your own way.

I do, and I did.
And, deep in my winter studio,
with the freedom to explore these barn interiors
and their inhabitants as a collection of compositions
I worked on letting a series of smaller ideas drive a larger narrative.

In this chapter how does the light
streaming through a stormy sky
past the brown cows and the russet fields
make its way through the narrow openings in the banked barn
and come to rest on the soft pile of shavings
and the whispers of hay.

And how important
are those fleetingly few seconds
when the random break in the clouds
allows a shaft of impossibly powerful light
to smash through those cracks
and dance on that rope.