Original artwork description:

16x21 inches Oil on Birch wood panel w/Oak frame, all hand-made. All of my paintings have at least 5 layers of gesso on the bare wood surface, and are warp-free, corralled into the finest of oak frames. Guaranteed likeable as well, and will add ambiance to your environment...along with questions that most people cannot answer.

Out on a stormy day with my daughter, and in between "storms", we caught sight of 2 Bald Eagles...in Indiana that is. And sort of chasing them down we came to a ranch that had a hilltop kind of view of the storms, and the eagles. I had my trusty Lumix GH3. The ranch had this marvelous gate that opened to it's pastureland, and up and high over the gate was a black, iron gate post and arch. You know, I've never really understood the purpose behind those audacious openings, be they wood or iron. But on each side of the gate, on the posts, sat a cow skull. Juxtaposed against the stormy skies, the colors, the seething atmosphere alive with light...there was stony death, like a signpost or warning. "Abandon all hope ye who enter here" kind of stuff. I believe I took about 300 pictures. And I knew one of them would end up being a painting. I saw this 2 years before I actually made it. And I believe there are more to make of this in the wings. So call this 1st in a series then.

Stephen

Materials used:

Wood, Gesso, Oil paint