SOLD - Late Fall

So it's coming on up Halloween and the only thing I could think of to sketch was crows. I often find myself watching crows out there in the landscape. They can be pretty entertaining - they're so smart. And though there is no reason why I decided to paint three (for those of you who study this stuff, as you know there is quite a bit of mythology about three crows), here's something I had never heard or read before:

Stock market investors sometimes refer to three crows as a pattern of successive declining stock prices over three days often identified by overlapping candlestick patterns. Three crows are often seen as a warning of a period of powerful selling pressure on the stock market.

Thankfully, I don't have to watch the stock market. I can just watch crows.


Late Fall • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $200

SOLD - October

So if anything octo in most languages is eight, why is the tenth month of the year October? Shouldn't it be the eighth month? I queried and found the following:

c.1050, from Latin October (mensis), from octo "eight," from PIE root *octo(u)- "eight." Eighth month of the old Roman calendar (pre-46 B.C.E.), which began the year in March.
 

The original Roman calendar had just 10 months, starting with Martius (became March), and then after December came an indeterminate "winter period" of about 61 days that were not assigned to any month. The original months were: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September (7th), October (8th), November (9th) and December (10th). Note that the Latin names for the later months actually do correspond with their numbered positions.

The last two months added to the Roman Calendar were Ianuarius (now January) and Februarius (now February). This pushed all the other months forward two numbers when later people came to regard January as the "First" month. Probably because of the winter solstice, January became regarded as a time of "renewal" for the sun, and hence the start of a new solar cycle.

September then became the 9th month, October the 10th, and so on, but the original names remained, without matching up with the number their name was first based on. 

In the meantime, the bright colored leaves have dropped in the foothills and mountains, but the landscape is still spectacular. 

October • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $200

SOLD - Cornfield

Once in a while I make believe I'm an alien trying to make sense of the inner workings of earthlings - it's a coping mechanism. When I finished this sketch, I sat back in my chair, folded my arms over my chest and decided that if I was an alien, I would look at this painting and say to myself, "Hmmm... that cornfield is missing something. Ah yes, a crop circle, it needs a crop circle!"

Cornfield • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $200

#181 Coloring Up And Then Down

It's coloring up all over Maine. It began with one or two leaves, and then one or two branches. Then came a slow roll out of colors starting in the mountains, spreading to the coast. It's the deciduous trees, sprinkled here and there with evergreen, that makes this so spectacular. 

In the meantime, no matter how much voodoo you use - crossing your fingers, wearing garlic, nude native dancing, this shock of color will eventually and abruptly fade to brown. Those same trees will transform into shivering, stringy vertical black lines, having been stripped naked by a howling and relentless cold wind.

But that comes later. Right now, it's beautiful.

Coloring Up And Then Down • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $200