This painting I call Hayride because the man is bringing a load of hay from a far away field to his farm. When visiting Woodstock, Vermont a few years back I walked across this restored covered bridge. I was happy to see that this bridge had been restored for automotive as well as pedestrian traffic. Also it reminded me of stories I had been told as a child how big over-loaded hay wagons would sometimes get stuck trying to navigate over the bridge. Sometimes the wheels would fall through the rotting boards from the weight of these over-loaded wagons. In some instances the heat generated from the hay would ignite a fire and the bridge would be destroyed as well as the hay and wagon. I came home to my studio with this image in mind and thought it would make a good narrative of times past. The horses came from images I had from Stonewall Farm in Chesterfield, NH. The hay wagon I basically made up from memory. The driver was an old railr...
I am a realist, fine art, oil painter. My background in art includes teaching drawing and art history at the college level, an MFA in Visual Arts and numerous regional and national awards.