Paintings > 2023 Watercolors

Crows On Stones (Swissdale Cemetery)
Crows On Stones (Swissdale Cemetery)
watercolor on paper
10 x 11" (25x28 cm)
2023

The Swissdale Cemetery is a location I like to revisit a few times a year since it is so close to where I live. Beautiful and peaceful it commands a clear view of the tightly nestled hills. I've worked from this same position multiple times in the past but this piece had its own direction once it started to get going. The tombstones remind me of a sculpture garden but with familiar local names. On one of the tombstones I was writing the actual name onto the watercolor when I quickly started to change it because it felt a bit intrusive and disrespectful. I started to switch the name to my own name adding the "UR" but when I was writing the "T" I let it trail off into something ambiguous because it just didn't sit right writing my own grave. All the time I was working on this piece the crows were talking and talking - "KA KA KA KAAA" - and one even landed on a grave to pose. In the immediate foreground is the painting in my lap while I was working on it along with my box of paints and dirty water.

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