September Morning Back Home

"...I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight hours in the open air." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

My mom's family and the family of my husband have roots in farming, and there is nothing like the simplicity and serenity of time back home on the family farm. When I was growing up, we moved around a bit, but the one constant home was my grandparents' farm. I loved spending weeks there as a child and it still visits my dreams. That farm was sold years ago and is no longer in our family. But, I'm thankful that my mother-in-law owns this particular farm. Her horses have moved on and someone else is planting the fields, but we love going back to the farm to just hang out with Mom and take the occasional walk in the fields or along the country roads.

On one such visit a few Septembers ago, I awoke early and was enchanted by the rising sun hitting the mist across the fields. I quietly let myself out through the kitchen and walked through the dewy grass to try to capture it in photographs.

I loved the early morning mist behind the barn and how the sun created a golden glow and interesting shadows. A little later in the morning, the mist had evaporated, but the sun began to dapple the barn as it rose high enough to shine through the leaves which was very pleasing. So, I combined the two to create my painting. I also wanted to capture the sun shining through the old tire swing which, in real life, was too far from the barn to include within the same scene. So, using a little artistic prerogative, I moved it just a bit. When mom saw the finished painting, she mentioned how glad she was that the tire swing was included, so I'm happy that I went with my intuition on that. You'll also notice that I exaggerated (and slightly changed) the colors to give it more of a glow hoping to attain the feeling of that morning.

When I think back on that morning I still feel warm and peaceful. I hope I've translated my impression into a 2-D space well enough to give you a taste of a beautiful September morning back home.

Do you have a special place that brings back memories of younger and simpler days? I'd love to hear about it.