Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving

In the country I was born the local churches would celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving, usually in late September.  I seem to remember this being a pretty large festival and since our family were farmers it had more than a passing significance.  People would bring flowers, grain, home made bread, pies, fruits and vegetables to the church and I have this picture in my mind of everything being stacked around the altar and it looking very big!  After the Sunday service everyone would go home to a big meal and all the food and bounty left at the church was distributed to the poor or the local hospital.  Not unlike the Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States.

This painting I completed recently reminds me of this time of year with the bear in contemplation of some passing time.  Perhaps he is giving thanks also.


Caspar's Walk, 2009
18" X 24"  (Original still available through Lahaina Galleries)

Made after an oil by Caspar David Friedrich titled A Walk at Dusk.  I was able to view this painting at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles some years ago, where it made a great impression on me.  It is a small piece but a very profound statement contemplating the end of a day or a life.  It was painted shortly before he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1835. 

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