“Now a Walmart”
5 1/2 x 8 1/2" watercolor
I’ve been intrigued with cotton fields since I very first returned to North Carolina in 2003. And I’ve always enjoyed putting stories with my paintings. Next Monday I’ll be sharing with my newsletter subscribers a new oil I painted of a cotton field not far from where I live. I’ll also be discussing the use of oils vs. watercolors. Please click here if you are not already on the mailing list, and are interested in becoming a subscriber to my weekly Behr Path newsletter.
Following is the text I wrote in 2003 that accompanied this painting. My watercolor style is different now, of course I’ve changed the name of the painting, and my mother has passed, but my love of storytelling and plein air painting continues.
I drove by this field many times on Hwy 70 en route to Raleigh. The vast field with barns on the horizon caught my eye even before the cotton started bursting. Mother in tow, I did the painting utilizing the trunk of the car as my easel. The leaves of the plants had turned partially crimson. How many times did I hear Mom tell me the cotton should be picked before so much rain falls on it? Growing up, long ago, she worked for a cotton grower in Texas. That’s why she says she knows cotton. I suppose any farmer in these parts would tell her it’s not her cotton pickin’ business.
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