provincial

1996
acrylic on canvas panel
14" x 10"

i don't know exactly what drew me to this landscape—what my motives were for painting it and such—but it reminds me of the children's book heidi. i loved that book when i was growing up! my parents forced me to read it—i remember that trip to borders distinctly—saying it was a classic. i complained that it was hard to get into at first, and they insisted that it'd get better. so i kept reading and, lo and behold, i was soon obsessed with it. honestly, i can't remember much of the plot anymore...obviously there was heidi, who lived with her grandfather up in the mountains and she drank goats' milk and ate fresh cheese and rolled around in the flowers and it all seemed so charming. she had an invalid friend in the city (maybe?) whose health she restored by taking her to the countryside. i think that's how the story goes. anyway, this painting reminds me of it, though i don't have much to say about it technically or aesthetically.