View from my bedroom window

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Could you be my neighbor?

I don’t remember when I started this doodle. Whatever you’d like to call it. Anyway, perhaps winter 2016.

First I experimented with glazing and it was interesting. I didn’t quite like it, so I carefully wipe it off. Then I decided to extend the roof forward in the foreground to give a better sense that I am viewing from my second floor bedroom window. Then I decided to dump a lot of snow on the roof of my neighbor’s house. Sure, why not.

Home. Oil on panel. 8 by 10 inches. 

When facing the twin houses from the front on Birch Street, the right of the twin house is still for rent. (Would you like to be my neighbor?) No one is living in there, so not much heat escaping the roof. That’s why the snow is still pilled up there. But why do I need to explain this? Every painting has some embellishments to tell a story or to convey a sense of place. In this painting, that sense of place is, home.

I said to another artist friend that I choked up a bit when I titled it, Home — It reminded me of the months when we came close to becoming homeless when the global economy collapsed. We had to choose between a roof over our heads or the exorbitant health insurance premiums. The floors dropped from underneath us. It was a very long roller coaster ride. Fortunately we have families and friends who would not allow this to happen to us. They were our lifeline. With a little bit of their help we gradually made it through and eventually found a place in Kennett Square to call home.