SUMMER TRAVELS

SOURCE PHOTOS

"And It Rained"  Acrylic on 30" x 40" canvas

How did a photo of laundry hanging out to dry in Croatia inspire my latest painting? During fun travels this summer along the Adriatic, I took numerous photographs of clothes drying outside in the sun.  Upon returning home, I chose one of the photos as reference for a new artwork.   As you can see above, the original photo is in color and I then Photoshopped it into black and white for a contrast study.

(I need to interject here that for the past year I have focused on creating paintings that reflect my concern about coal-caused pollution.  I have been hoping that in some small way I could help increase awareness about how the continued use of coal as a source of energy is extremely toxic to the world’s air quality).

Anyway, I started the 30"w x 40"w canvas thinking I would paint a delightful scene illustrating clothes drying on a line—a simple idea.  However, the painting evolved into an artwork with acid green and black lines falling on some mountains!  As I was doing the piece, it felt as though I were painting acid rain, not the sunny image of clothes swaying in the breeze on a sunny day.   I find it so true that sometimes an inner voice creeps in and takes over as you do a creative work and I try to listen. 

So, to quote from the Environmental Protection Agency Student Site:  “Human activities are the main cause of acid rain. Over the past few decades, humans have released so many different chemicals into the air that they have changed the mix of gases in the atmosphere. Power plants release the majority of sulfur dioxide and much of the nitrogen oxides when they burn fossil fuels, such as coal, to produce electricity. In addition, the exhaust from cars, trucks, and buses releases nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide into the air. These pollutants cause acid rain.”