A View from the Trail

This collection of  images is part of new explorations of the place I call “home” here in Ocoee TN. Most of them have been painted since early 2023.  Many were done en plein air which is just a fancy way of saying (preferably in one breath) “outside on a little stool with a pack of supplies at the ready complete with bugs and wind and heat or cold, eyes and heart and hand poised to record the total experience.”  Others are done in the studio from preliminary drawings with the aid of a photo.  All are done from the heart.

“Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motion of the wind.  He ought to recollect the glare of moon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk.”            N. Scott Momaday, the Way to Raimy Mountain

Click on any image to enlarge and scroll through the whole gallery.  Sizes indicated are image sizes.  If you are interested in making one of these your own, please contact me here