A short
drive in nearly any direction from Springboro takes you into farmland. Fields
of wheat, corn, and soybeans stretch between wooded borders and narrow streams.
Turning from one road onto another, you glimpse the heartwarming scenery that
only the country can supply. Beyond fence corners stand barns tucked amid lush
greenery. Horses whinny and gallop playfully. Goldfinches, redwing blackbirds,
and indigo buntings are only a few of the vibrant birds flitting among the brambles
of the roadside.
 |
|
A
Barn on a Rainy Day Near Springboro, Ohio
Original
Watercolor Painting by Robert T. Rhode
|
The region
where Springboro stands was settled long ago—so far back in time that many of
the oldest lanes have vanished, replaced by newer highways in slightly
different locations. It is common to see a string of homes and outbuildings
some distance from today’s road. A rural byway once served them that has since
been rerouted or cut off. Now a rather long driveway leads back to them. This
tradition of repurposing the landscape has produced the enchantment of
discovering isolated barns nowhere near a highway. In the summer, you have to
know where to look for them. Half covered in vines and surrounded by brush,
they bear testimony to an earlier time when cattle roamed the meadows and a
dusty path brought the occasional buggy and news from town.
My original
watercolor painting this week features one such barn. It watches over a small
field of new corn. The spring and summer have been wet, and the corn was
planted late. The stand has been partly drowned out. Showers are soaking the
landscape, and the sky is a study of blustery gray clouds. The vista opens from
a gap in the trees and thick undergrowth close to where two roads form a T.
Look in the right direction at the right instant, or you will miss the view,
which roadside thickets and tangled creepers soon shut out.
Within two
or three miles along the same road, I could have selected half a dozen scenes
as subjects for paintings. For an artist, Springboro’s agricultural
surroundings offer unlimited possibilities. Few places in my experience have
such happy arrangements of artistic elements. Angles and arcs conspire to
please the aesthetically inclined eye. It is as if the Master Painter had been
in an especially blithe mood when creating the Springboro corner of the world.
Even rainy days in July are hardly sad; rather, they hold forth the promise of
harvests to come in only a few months.
If you
would like to purchase one of my paintings from this blog series, send me a
message through my website at roberttrhode.org or via Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment