Winter Suburb Print

I grew up in suburbs like those Charlie Brown and Linus trudge through between home and the school and the Christmas tree lot. Little cape cod houses, crackerboxes really, nearly identical, their basic geometry punctuated by small trees, chain link fences, and boxy midcentury American cars and set out along winding streets and cul-de-sacs. Seen from a plane during the winter they might be mistaken for a Braille message punched out for alien visitors. When I was Charlie Brown's size the small distances seemed vast. The trees have grown since, obscuring what it was like. It was bleak, but it was a more secure world we grew up in, if you disregard the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. These suburbs were a launchpad for millions of business careers. Drawing this was an exercise in cubism, barely different schematically from the slashes and arabesques of Pollock or deKooning. I have always loved depicting these little worlds from the air. Doesn't everyone picture their past this way?