There is a fabulous Danish restaurant on Seneca Lake called Dano's. If you are ever in the area...don't miss it. The food and architecture are unique...the former is delicious...and the owner welcoming and friendly. But what I also muse about are the paintings! No surprise! Dano's wife is an artist. She has several large scale ...huge scale...abstract pieces. In my memory, which may be distorted...they consist of blotchy shapes of color which optically merge into landscapes. At least that's what my mind did. A walk in the woods...

I so admire the loose freedom of that painterly technique and am perenially attempting to "loosen up". I think it's a generational thing that came from art classes. Most of my painter friends aspire to that!

So, I bought a large canvas by my terms...36 x 48...not huge but big for me. My plan was to start with one of my little colored pencil drawings since I had already made color and shape choices...and try to interpret the same path down Peglow Road using that technique...big loose shapes of color.

No matter how I tried, I couldn't stop defining those shapes...but this is pretty loose for me...more like Impressinism than abstract...but maybe next time...looking at this one sideways gives me an idea................so here's phase 1 (I even used big brushes!)

Phase 2 ...

Phase 3...

It needed some interest...that was a lot of empty road!

...three of our 5 precious grandchildren...

To which Jim questioned why they were wearing bathing suits on Peglow Rd. Oops so much for using that reference photo! Well...not too tough adding clothes (later)! And it also screamed for the parents in the foreground. Suddenly it became clear to me what I wanted to communicate.

It's destiny...

We stand behind our children...nurturing, guiding, teaching, protecting, loving...but they are headed down the long road of life toward that unknown ahead. We can only pray that what awaits them will be what they and we dream of for them...but we must let them forge ahead on that journey

...so...it's tight again! But I feel pretty happy that it talked to me about life and love and letting go...a lesson I have trouble learning...not just in my painting.