A little closer view.
I decided to paint another “Fall Colors” painting more than
a month ago and got well on my way when I got an email from an old friend
advising me of the passing of another old friend from the 1970s. At that time he
and his family lived in Nassau county NY, out on long island. A group of us
from a territory management meeting in NYC were invited to their home for an
evening of cocktails and dinner. While there I remember sitting in a sunken
area of the living area called the “conversation pit”; three steps down to an
area of couches, pillows, drinks and good conversation. We all enjoyed a
wonderful evening before returning to mid-town Manhattan and more specifically,
Craw-daddy’s pub at the Roosevelt for another cocktail or two. We always stayed
at the Roosevelt while in New York because of its proximity to the diamond
district.
After giving some thought to that evening I decided to put a
Minnesota type “Conversation Pit” into the “Fall Colors” painting I’ve been
working on here at the house. Since I had already gotten pretty far into the
painting, how to do it was the problem; luckily I hadn’t yet done much on the mid
or lower sections of the canvas. I had seen something similar to this Adirondack chair
arrangement in a photo recently so decided to use that idea and just stuck it
in the mid area and put a little light on it. I think it fits nice into the painting and also sort of
depicts the laid back relaxing lifestyle of Northern Minnesota living where
most people sit face to face and talk to each other rather than use some sort
of electronic aid; that is at least in the summer and colorful splendor of fall;
winter is something else. I call this one “Minnesota Conversation Pit”. Next I’m
going to try a winter landscape, at least that’s the plan. Your comments are welcome.
