The way ahead is how you get through it
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Margit’s daughter Frieda reserved and then bought a painting (ID=74-20) with the intention of giving to some good friends. But Frieda liked the painting so much she kept it for herself. (Sorry, friends!) The scene “Fall colors road” reminded her of walking to school as a child. On the route, she and her siblings passed through trees and came out onto fields. Frieda enjoyed being reminded of that “passing through”. Yes, this journey to somewhere else seems to be another of Margit’s themes. There’s always a road, and something (okay, mostly trees) that you pass though, but the destination glimpsed beyond could be bright fields, a home, or even a lake.
- ID: 63-06 “Birch & road spring”
- Details: 16″ x 20″ / Orig price: $5 / 1st owner: B Caulson
- Comment: Here what you glimpse ahead through the trees is a lake, not a field. But you still look forward to that expansive future.
- For information on 63-14 “Fall road deer”, see Deer and horses
- Comment: The road curves past the shadowy woods before the view opens up again in a clearing beyond. Here a deer awaits as you pass through.
- ID: 74-20 “Fall colors road”
- Details: 16″ x 20″ / Orig price: $15 / 1st owner: R&F Nowland
- Comment: This painting was dear to Frieda’s heart because it reminded her of passing through to sunnier fields.
- ID: 74-25 “spring & road apple blossom”
- Details: 16″ x 20″ / Orig price: $15 / 1st owner: D Lee
- Comment: So similar to the previous painting, but here it’s spring.
- ID: YY-## “[]”
- Details: ?? / ?? / 1st owner: ??
- Comment: Maybe not as pronounced as the previous painting, but here too the road takes you through the trees and bushes to a homestead glimpsed in the distance.
SCRATCH
Sure, it’s a long-standing habit of artists to “frame” their picture with trees at left and right. But with some paintings, it seems more than just focusing your eye at something in the center.
The road or path always seems to have a curve. (Margit doesn’t do many straight roads.)
Coming or going?
Many “road” pictures have about the same layout as stream or river paintings. There’s a long object (the road or the river) that looms in the foreground and extends back to a vanishing point. But there’s a significant difference. When there’s a river or stream in a painting it seems to always be flowing at you, coming from the distance and pouring into the foreground. But a road doesn’t flow. (or does it?). When there’s a footpath or a road, it doesn’t talk about coming, but going. We can take that way to go deeper into the picture. You’re not turning around to looking at where you came from, you’re looking at where you want to go.
The destination can be a sunny field, a house out there, or even a lake. The important thing is you go through a dark place or a confining space to reach that clearing.
The cold of winter could be a barrier. A church on a hill could be the destination.
Contrast with the “Lord is my shepherd” theme too. The sheep are coming from the distance like the river does.
Margit Mindrum 