Illustration Friday...

Word of the week: "Metropolitan Sunshine"
I actually did this painting a few days ago. It's for my ACEO paintings I'm doing to sell on eBay. I'm going to be posting a bunch of them tonight...new stuff!

The reason I painted this is because even if the city seems to overpower me, there is always a moment where you can find nature...such as a potted plant. Actually, I don't think a metropolis is a bad place or anything like that. In fact, I think they are beautiful and amazing and full of life. I came to question this when I was living in California of all places. I remember I was riding a bus and was chatting with a fellow passenger. I was lamenting how there was so much of everything and so much noise, lights, etc. Then he told me about how he's been places were there wasn't a light for miles and how you're searching just for a bit of life in all the sea of wildlife. I doubted this.


Before Summer Rain

Suddenly, from all the green around you,
something-you don't know what-has disappeared;
you feel it creeping closer to the window,
in total silence. From the nearby wood

you hear the urgent whistling of a plover,
reminding you of someone's Saint Jerome:
so much solitude and passion come
from that one voice, whose fierce request the downpour

will grant. The walls, with their ancient portraits, glide
away from us, cautiously, as though
they weren't supposed to hear what we are saying.

And reflected on the faded tapestries now;
the chill, uncertain sunlight of those long
childhood hours when you were so afraid.

---Rainer Maria Rilke


Now, that I live in a place that is smaller than the suburb I came from in California and how we drove mile after mile through acres of farms, woods and mountains to get here, I can say that it's true...we do search for that light in the darkness, we do look for others in a sea of green.

It's funny but people think of my small town, Altoona, as a metropolis. People who have lived on farms all their lives. No, Altoona is not quite a metropolis. However, if you cross your eyes and jump up and down it could be a mini-version of a big city. Well, maybe not. :)