Day Trips

I've been hard at it, putting the last swipes of  color on canvas for an exhibit I hang in just a few short days.

I'd been struggling with ideas and themes for an exhibit that had been scheduled for several months. You know how it is when you look hard for something and it just doesn't make itself known?  Like Sir Isaac Newton; he spent all that time looking for a good idea without success, then when he least expected, an apple fell on his head and -'poof' - there it was, gravity.

Handsome Husband and I were out for a much needed breath of fresh air early this spring. We'd been cooped up for weeks due to typical Nebraska winter weather; grey, windy and c-c-c-c-cold. On this day, however, the sun shone brilliantly against a warming blue sky and we hopped in the car to see what had happened around the county since the last snowstorm. 

As HH and I drove the roads around our town we saw life rising in the meadows and fields, creeks and river bottoms. Grey turned to gold, pink, coral. Honestly, it's this way every spring and yet, every year it is a delightful surprise; the loveliness that unfolds so often right before our eyes in the routine of our days. And there it was; my great idea.  I had quit looking for a theme, and it was right there in front of me. What I see every day, drive by, through or around in the course of my life. Day Trips.

We plan magnificent vacations and travel for days and fly a thousand miles to see something new, we read of exotic locations that leave us wishing we were anywhere but here. Yet sometimes 'here', that place within a few minutes of home, is lovely too; rich with color, texture and mystery.

 

©2013Patricia Scarborough  Harvested   12 x 12 oil

Day Trips is a call to attention, a kind suggestion that you, I, all of us, tuck our pads, pods, phones and readers away for awhile and lift our eyes to the world in front of us, right where we are.

Day Trips is an exhibit of new work opening at The Burkholder Project in Lincoln, Ne. on July 3rd, and available for viewing through July 31st, 2013.  I'm sharing exhibit space with ceramic artist Sharon Ohmberger. Our opening reception is during Lincoln's First Friday Art Walk on Friday, July 5th from 7 - 9pm. Looking forward to seeing you there!