This triptych consists of three 20"x20" canvases, which I painted for my niece and her husband for Christmas. She and I had discussed the space in her living room where she wanted a painting, the colors and the general idea of a landscape. I worked from a series of disparate photographs to create a composition true to the idea of a marsh with my own message - that man moves into fragile environments, pushing the limits and changing the natural habitat forever. Thus the fishing shack, the distant boat and the large egret observing.
That was my idea and I thought it would go rather quickly when I began painting in September. It did not go quickly and I laboured on it without much satisfaction. My plan was to drive the three canvases over to Nashville at Thanksgiving and store them at my brother's until Christmas. Finally realizing that I could not finish them, I set my brushes aside with the idea that I would return after Christmas to complete the paintings.
The afternoon before I left I started to make changes and eventually changed about 1/3 of the composition. Wet paint began turning to mud that evening and I realized that the paintings I was giving them for Christmas were not at all what I wanted them to be. Nonetheless, this is what they looked like when they unwrapped them. They liked the idea and the general paintings but were glad I planned to return in a few months to complete them.
Meanwhile, the holidays were upon me - many activities and things to be done. I didn't paint at all during the that season. And that non-painting period extended until I returned to Nashville in March to complete the triptych.
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