Sunday, January 23, 2011

Reverie

Reverie 16x16 acrylic

I quite like the feel of this one, very warm and nostalgic.

I just started reading " A Girl named Zippy" about a precocious girl growing up in a very small Indiana town in the 1960's. It reminds me a great deal of my own childhood. Certain passages, like this one "Everyone in Mooreland believed in God (except my dad). There was no such thing as multiculturalism--no people of color, no exotic religions, no one openly homosexual (there was one old bachelor who had suspiciously good taste in furniture, but we didn't question his private life)."

For the most part, my childhood was calm and safe. We were free-range children who roamed wherever our bikes could take us. The Dads were mainly farmers and oil field workers, WW2 veterans who picked up their lives and soldiered on, careful to refrain from swearing in front of wives and kids. The Moms raised varying assortments of children to mostly good effect. Everyone grew a garden and canned for the winter. They laid crude oil on the gravel roads in the summer to lay the dust. I loved the smell of it so much I could almost eat it.

1 comment:

Autumn Leaves said...

The painting is gorgeous, Paula and I have to agree with your thoughts on the piece. I haven't read the book but the nostalgic sense of this piece comes through beautifully. I'd say my growing up years were similar to your own. And the book sounds fabulous!