Southward Bound
A visual reminder of countless drives crisscrossing the countryside
of southern Delaware by Ellen Rice
Southward Bound
16" x 20" oil on canvas (sold, private collection)
and 25 s/n archival giclee reproductions on paper and canvas
Please note this is a digital image. Painting and print colors, depth and luminosity are best viewed in person.
16" x 20" oil on canvas (sold, private collection)
and 25 s/n archival giclee reproductions on paper and canvas
Please note this is a digital image. Painting and print colors, depth and luminosity are best viewed in person.
Southward Bound
by Ellen Rice
The inspiration for this painting was a client's desire for me to paint something, anything, to go in an old dark brown "tramp frame" from the early 1900s. He would not give me any specifics. None. Nada.
I knew how much he loves paintings of the sun, that he grew up in southern Delaware, has lived here all his life and is a great lover of nature and wildlife.
So, I picked up my paint brushes and started with the sun and worked my way outward. At first I was going to paint a farm field in the foreground, but somehow in the process one stroke and wide brush swath led to another until water beckoned to appear and this painting emerged as a familiar scene of the marshes and treelines of the area where I also have lived most of my life.
This painting is countless memories and feelings, many years rolled into one, untold trips through the back roads of southern Delaware on the way to and from going to church a few towns away, visiting my in-laws in Milford and other relatives to the north of the state. We crisscrossed the countryside this way and that on curvy roads, first in an old Buick my mother-in-law gave to me, tail fins and all, then an MGB-GT that hugged the curves like a dream, later various Hondas when having a family required more room in the car.
The geese flew into this painting last, heading south for the moment, though south could mean the cornfield a mile down the road. Many geese make their year-round home in southern Delaware. Back when there was more countryside, geese to my husband's family meant hunting expeditions and family gatherings around the dinner table, and what a joy they were.
Life has its challenges, but its funny how those challenges in days gone by fade away and the happiest memories shine through. This painting brings me a lot of happy memories. I hope in some way it does the same for you.
I knew how much he loves paintings of the sun, that he grew up in southern Delaware, has lived here all his life and is a great lover of nature and wildlife.
So, I picked up my paint brushes and started with the sun and worked my way outward. At first I was going to paint a farm field in the foreground, but somehow in the process one stroke and wide brush swath led to another until water beckoned to appear and this painting emerged as a familiar scene of the marshes and treelines of the area where I also have lived most of my life.
This painting is countless memories and feelings, many years rolled into one, untold trips through the back roads of southern Delaware on the way to and from going to church a few towns away, visiting my in-laws in Milford and other relatives to the north of the state. We crisscrossed the countryside this way and that on curvy roads, first in an old Buick my mother-in-law gave to me, tail fins and all, then an MGB-GT that hugged the curves like a dream, later various Hondas when having a family required more room in the car.
The geese flew into this painting last, heading south for the moment, though south could mean the cornfield a mile down the road. Many geese make their year-round home in southern Delaware. Back when there was more countryside, geese to my husband's family meant hunting expeditions and family gatherings around the dinner table, and what a joy they were.
Life has its challenges, but its funny how those challenges in days gone by fade away and the happiest memories shine through. This painting brings me a lot of happy memories. I hope in some way it does the same for you.
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