CRACKED RIB
Egg Tempera
48 x 48 inches
Over the last twenty years or so the artist and his wife have gone to the Adirondacks because of the artists participation in the Adirondacks Exhibition of American Watercolors. It is still evident what attracted Winslow Homer to this area. Although the bearded guides and their tools of the trade are mostly memories some remaining items are still symbolic of that time. One of the artist‘s favorites is the snowshoe, a pair of which was almost indispensable for the back woodsman.
One of the artist's good friends was on business in Atlanta when the "Blizzard of the Century" hit the east coast in 1993. With all of the major airlines grounded he was forced to take a series of puddle jumpers to Washington and then drive home from there. Upon reaching the Pennsylvania border the state police had all of the roads closed so he had to turn around and take a circuitous route and eventually got into the state. Upon his arrival home, he decided to take a hike through the woods in the deep snow wearing his pair of antique snowshoes. Having not been used in years, the snowshoes were not up to the task and it was fortunate that they rather than he ended up with a "Cracked Rib". Here they hang on an outside wall soaking up the sun retired from their usefulness but still visually beautiful. The artist began painting "Cracked Rib" on the first day of winter feeling that was a symbolic day for this subject.
SOLD