This painting first inspired me in the 1980s. Winslow Homer painted it in 1865 shortly after the end of the Civil War. He was an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly and had been sent to the front lines to document Union troops. This experience became a moving and formative part of his early career as an artist–I can only imagine the tug on his emotions, since I haven’t experienced war myself.
I was especially intrigued by the title, Veteran In A New Field. Homer was referring to a soldier turning from reaping death to reaping the harvest, a time of peace after the horror. I was inspired by the idea of being a veteran artist, having acquired my 10,000 hours of practice, and facing a new field of possibilities.
A few years ago, my niece, knowing about my attachment to this art, sent me a full size print of the painting. I’ve hung it in the room where I work. It is directly in front of the door as I enter. It is the first thing that inspires me everyday. And then I look around…and find an abundance of JOY.
When these two unfinished paintings are placed side by side,
they seem to have a common purpose!
There are the delicious brush strokes that I can’t believe–I DID THAT! (Or, as some artists refer to them, they are ‘happy accidents’.)
There are silly musings in my workspace. Flights of fancy. And creative exploration.
Any place where I settle in to work acquires collections of ‘stuff’. It is my hobbit-hole and I am surrounded by tokens, gifts, nostalgia, and many things “precious“.
The crown jewel of my workplace is, of course, a freshly started painting or project. Promise and potential. Something to live into.
Winslow Homer’s painting, Veteran In A New Field, was painted just a few months after Appomattox–the final engagement of the Civil War. The painting is often seen as an emblem of postwar American society. After carnage, chaos, and disruption, the hope is that the veteran can return to home and family with a renewed sense of purpose.
These are troubled times. I find joy each time I return to my field. I wish you the same.
I started writing captions to go along with the sketches I post each day. This book, “The New Dictionary of Thoughts” has been a faithful companion in that process. It was published in 1936 and contains quotes from “thinkers” prior to that date, of course. I find the language usage elegant. It also helps that the topics of quotes are arranged in alphabetical order. Autumn and Avarice are right next to each other, lol. How cool is that! And one can not simply walk into the Mordor of writing without the research assistance of the Internet. What an astonishing age to live in! Posting on Instagram has helped me keep my musings condensed, valuable to whittling the words down to their essence and essential in a world of short attention spans–myself included. The writing has become as important as the sketch. That was unexpected. When I look for a subject to sketch now, there must be a concept to go with it. Keeps me on the edge of my intellectual seat. When the visual and the writing come together there is that same “flush of excitement” I felt in my English high school class so many years ago. A few more recent and favorite postings follow:
Day 506: BEAUTY or BURDEN? No kidding, standing on a low wall I looked down on some rocks and a desert plant in our yard and from that slightly different perspective I saw this head and shoulder adorned. BEAUTY: Move over Marie Antoinette updo, Marilyn Monroe’s glamour waves, and Princess Leia’s side buns! BURDEN: Or perhaps this is a cactus to bear, an opuntia around the neck, stickers on your back, a prickly conscience. Just a little artistic fantasy to badger the point: BEAUTY (or BURDEN) is in the eye (or heart) of the beholder?
Day 520: Traveling the earth tiny Earthlings? I see your excited faces inside that little blimp. Taking a risk to see what’s around the corner? Got toothbrushes and quarters to call home? No, wait! Quarters don’t work anymore. Got your phone chargers? Take lots of pictures! Don’t forget clean underwear and an extra pair of socks! “Rather see the wonders of the world abroad than, living dully sluggardized at home, wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.”–Shakespeare.
Day 523: Simple food and drink, simply put, is not simple…now. These essentials of life have brewed and bred a world of complexity and memorable quotes: A Dish Fit For The Gods; All You Can Eat; Chow Down; It Is Meate And Drink To Me (Shakespeare again); Let Them Eat Cake (Marie did NOT say this); and the growing harvest of study indicating that YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. (Unless, of course, something is EATING YOU. Think GRABOIDS, “This valley is just one long smorgasbord!” And DINOSAURS, “Let’s get this moveable feast under way!” I digress.) Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may have to count your calories, measure cups of vegetables, ounces of water, and be sugar free.
Day 593: Oh, the CRAZY things you could find on the Internet today!!! The U.S. Army has NOT discovered how to teleport people. The National Air and Space Museum has NOT begun breeding tribbles. Archaeologists at Vanderbilt University have NOT discovered the skeleton of a 39 foot tall squirrel. The British Milk Council is NOT selling unicorn milk. Sony has NOT developed a slime resistant proton pack. Verizon is NOT connecting your eyeballs directly into your social media accounts. There are NO pizza scented candles, No T-rex line of T-shirts, and No 3D-printed clam chowder. Dang! Happy April Fool’s Day anyway, lol.
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