The Tracks

This painting is of NC Wyeth and the symbols that Andrew Wyeth used to represent him. Where the road curves is the location of NC's sudden death, where his stalled car was struck by a train. Since Andrew has not painted a portrait of his father while he was alive, the hill itself as well as the tracks on the hill, represented NC to Andrew and became a recurring element in his paintings. The top of the hill is where Andrew first saw the farm. I started to paint the large pines on the far side of the hill, but finding them distracting (and just too much green for me), I brought in the grey of the day. (oil on claybord, 12x24)

Kuerner Farm was the inspiration for close to 1,000 of Andrew Wyeth's paintings. Andrew Wyeth was an inspiration for his symbolism and compositional arrangement. I learned of Plein Aire Days, a program of the Brandywine Conservancy in Chadds Ford PA, traveled there early in May for 2 days of painting at Kuerner Farm. To take advantage of the experience, I thought representationally (think symbolism) and not realistically.