thank you, Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth, a great American painter, died this morning after 91 years of life.  He is the man responsible responsible for the painting that I chose as my banner for this blog.  Though this painting, Christina's World, may be the one that he will be most remembered for, he leaves behind a large body of exquisite work.  After reading these quotes by Wyeth, I was struck by how they, nearly as much as his work, are telling of the man behind the brush.

"I don't paint these hills around Chadds Ford because they're better than the hills somewhere else. It's that I was born here, lived here — things have a meaning for me."

"I do an awful lot of thinking and dreaming about things in the past and the future — the timelessness of the rocks and the hills — all the people who have existed there. I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape — the loneliness of it — the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show."

"I think anything like that — which is contemplative, silent, shows a person alone — 

people always feel is sad. Is it because we've lost the art of being alone?"

I feel grateful for your perspective, Mr. Wyeth.  For showing us another form of beauty. 

Thank you.