simple matters II

In a private collection

sold through through Edgewater Gallery

This simple structure on Land’s End Road in Huletts Landing was torn down a few years ago. Because I sold a painting of this view about twenty years ago, I decided I wanted to ‘see’ it again. It was nice to return there in my own way.

I have been thinking of the phrase “simple matters” as I paint. I focused on the spare arrangement of geometric shapes of favorite barns and small homes, the dazzle of reflected light and the rich world of the shadows. Some buildings make me think of  ‘Ma,’ the Japanese concept:

Thirty spokes share the hub of a wheel; yet it is its center that makes it useful.
You can mould clay into a vessel; yet, it is its emptiness that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows from the walls of a house; but the ultimate use of the house will depend on that part where nothing exists.
Therefore, something is shaped into what is; but its usefulness comes from what is not.

Lao Tsu