Since 1973 I call this my home town
This series was started on
Mother's Day 1997. This is were I live. It was natural that I look at
this
historic
suburb of
a river of beautiful images. I
have continue this series for many
years.
It was Mother's Day 1997 and a family came to place a rose on the steel plaque commemorating those who
contributed to purchase a new/old town clock. I was just starting a painting from that vantage point. It would
become a seminal
work in a series about
sterile facades of modern architecture. It was a point at which I thought the citizens were re-evaluating
change and thinking about preserving some of the ambiance of earlier times. It was this awakening to the
beauty of the past which I tried to portray in this work. The storm of modernism has past and life re-emerges
more aware of the nature of man and his need for beauty.
RIVERSDALE
Riversdale was the home of George and Rosalie Calvert
The mansion called Riversdale
was the home of George and Rosalie Calvert. It was built by
George's
father-in-law,
Henri Joseph Steir and
was used for a period of time to store
his art collection. Mr. Steir was related to Peter Paul
Rubens and his
art collection, considered a major assemblage of European paintings ,
included
such masters as van
Dyke,
Rembrandt, and Titian. For this reason alone, I
felt it deserved to become a subject of a major work. The view
I chose for
painting the mansion is based upon a work I copied at the National
Gallery of
Art by Bernardo Bellotto
titled
"The Fortress of
Koningstein" I took the liberty of ommiting the houses
which
now surround this historic mansion,
and recreated the man-made lake and river
that ounce existed on the property. The few figures, including
a portrait
of myself painting, have been added to represent the history of the
edifice. "Riversdale" mansion is the centerpiece of
The North East Branch of the
The
river that runs through the town is much smaller than the Fox River in
the feelings I had as a youth and inspires me
explore its banks for pastoral beauty. Landscapes offer an array of
seasonal
and atmospheric pleasures. They also offer and
array of textures, patterns and
tactile feelings. I never tire of rendering the
water, grass, and skys
exlerienced while while painting on the banks of the North East
Branch of
the
There is so much to see and feel
of Nature and its gifts of life.
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