Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Afternoon Glow-SOLD


This one was done coming back from my Outer Banks workshop. there's this little town on the way called Columbia. its in what has been reported as the poorest county in North Carolina. i've passed thru it on hwy. 64 hundreds of times without even going a block off the main drag.

the other day i had the afternoon to paint, so i toured around town. its filled with slums and trash and sprinkled around....these beautiful turn of the century farm houses. this one was glowing in the winter afternoon sun. so i did its portrait. i have a feeling i'll be painting there quite a bit from now on!

7 comments:

Mikes1024 said...

Hi Mike...sad to hear about that community we have the same in the north east...you look past the dirt and trash and you see some awesome views of the past. Thanks for sharing that story.

mike rooney studios said...

mikes1024
i guess the moral of the story is there's beauty and fine people even in the worst places and circumstances. i tend to paint everything with a broad stroke (no pun intended)and try to lump everything into nice "easy to categorize" groups to make life easier. not a good practice.
i want to go back and paint this wonderful little rundown town. i have new eyes for it ya know?

Anonymous said...

Mike- you've done such a great job of capturing the light here that I could almost tell the time by looking at the suns' late day casting off that building.

With some renewed optimism, perhaps these down turned towns will be upturned and vital again.
Based on the direction our president wants to go, it would seem that if you live long enough, you see it all.

mike rooney studios said...

bonnie
these little downturned towns are great to paint. i'm sad to see the devastation but find beauty here and there even then.
i'm a pessimistic optimist about this whole different "cast of characters" in office now. lets not forget that they too are politicians like the last bunch. frail greedy humans that occasionally do good. just like the millions of politicians before them.
sorry for the editorializing. just want to keep myself from hoping for too much and being disappointed LOL
i'm a dis-establishmentarianist at heart. remember when they used to say never trust anyone over 40? kinda the same thing. never trust a politician (read- the government).
but i will say this...if everybody gets to feeling better about things, the collective change in attitude has got to improve things right?

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with you on the collective. Perception of optimism is worlds better than where we came from.
And not being a Pollyanna, I'm generally mistrustful of people and their " agendas ".
We're ( they're ) not perfect but maybe the next few years can be damn good.
We do live in hope.

Kathleen Hebert said...

Charming. Sad to think that this magnificent house is surrounded by trash - but here you have given it back its life. Welcoming and cozy. - Kathy

mike rooney studios said...

kathy
it really was a cool old house. and the way the sun was hitting it! it demanded a portrait. cant wait to go back and find another.