Bridgette Guerzon Mills | Country Road, oil, 18×24 inches
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong…. -John Denver
How does one not read those roads and immediately start to sing along?
When my son was in 6th grade he and his friends performed in their middle school talent show. He was on drums, one friend sang and his other friend was on guitar. They played Nirvana, it was awesome. But there was another performance that afternoon that I remember so well. An 8th grader came out and he sang Country Roads, Take Me Home and by the end he had the whole auditorium, about 500 11-14 year olds singing along. It was pretty amazing. I didn’t even know that kids that age would know that song! Loved the energy in that old auditorium. It was incredible.
I just finished this oil painting on a gallery wrapped canvas and it is highly textured, which makes me happy. Part of the texture comes from the fact that I had started a painting on it years ago that I never finished. I like the texture that it adds. A trace of what was. The previous painting is part of the journey.
I’m also trying to figure out with each of these paintings how to have more expressive brushstrokes, that suggest plant texture rather than trying to be literal.
Last year I had done a small oil painting that had a road in it that I enjoyed painting, so I knew I wanted to do another one. I have a feeling I’m going to have more in my future. True to my contradictory nature, I don’t particularly love driving, but I do love to be on the open roads. I have driven a lot around this country on various road trips. East coast, west coast, midwest, southwest, and also down south. There’s just something about being on the wide open roads under big skies.