"Abundance" Painting

This work was inspired by Jan Monchablon’s “Early Afternoon”. Monchablon’s celebration of “the agricultural abundance of the plains” is communicated so fully with rows of flourishing crops stretching into the limitless horizon and nourished with sensitive color and light. I attempted to extend this landscape to the next scene, the table. Using a similar rectangular composition, I secured the subject and contrasted it with open space, which allowed me to carry the scene forward along the same ‘plain’ (so to speak). In “Early Afternoon”, the landscape “unrolls toward the horizon” at a quick pace providing a sense of abruptly arriving at the edge of a precipice. I attempted to provide that same sense of teetering with carrots on the edge of an earth-born, wooden box. Like crop rows, the manufactured box safely grounds the carrots while they dangle in infinite, weather-willing space. The delicate balance, the teetering, and the urgent edge are what I imagine many crop growers must feel during a harvest. I grew up in an agricultural community in Yakima WA and had the opportunity to work for growers during harvest. I was fortunate enough to enjoy the landscape and tables provided by the valley’s agricultural abundance, and only felt the tension associated with timing, weather, and finding workers in the periphery. My hope is that “Abundance” allows you to enjoy the former and appreciate the latter.