High Country Thaw

by Steve Henderson

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Price

$950

Dimensions

12.000 x 9.000 inches

Title

High Country Thaw

Artist

Steve Henderson

Medium

Painting - Oil On Panel

Description

In the farm and ranch land of Eastern Washington, the seasons are distinct. Winter arrives with a blanket of snow. A few short months later, however, the same landscape transforms from white to vibrant green, as the grasses and crops of spring emerge into the warming surroundings.

Nothing is static, nothing stays the same – but when things change, as they change, they do so with an almost orchestrated dance. The snow doesn’t melt overnight. The grass, though it always engenders a sense of surprise upon its arrival, does not appear, suddenly, at full height.

Rather, there is transition, a state of time when it is not fully winter, but not yet quite spring. A feeling of excitement, of anticipation pervades the air as each day the landscape emerges from its snowy coverings.

The artwork, High Country Thaw, invites us to take a walk on a cool yet warm spring day. The sun is shining a bit more each afternoon, and though the breeze still cuts cold, the effect of the seasons can’t be overruled (by whom? one would wonder). Determined to hang on, to maintain its control of the situation, the snow tucks itself into the folds and crevices of the fields, but underneath, the rich loam of dark, deep earth vies for attention.

The result is a blend of colors, a pattern of hues that is nature’s quilt.

High Country Thaw is an encouraging reminder to us of the interplay of change with predictability, of the certainty of the seasons each year as winter transforms into spring, spring into summer, summer into fall, and fall back into winter. We are not stuck with the snow, anymore than we are stuck with summer’s heat.

High Country Thaw is also a reminder of the power of nature, of earth’s cycles and seasons that some humans throughout history, in their greed to control and exert power, seek to dominate. But the sun will not be controlled. The snow will not remain at the behest of a president or emperor. The seasons do not bow to human dictates.

This is good to know.

High Country Thaw is featured in 23 Fine Art America groups.

Uploaded

June 26th, 2020

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