There
is a place where it is cool even though the air is hot. A magical place, full
of freezing cold water that comes up out of the earth. A special gift to us who
have labored all week in 90-degree temperatures trying to capture the world
around us. Seven springs literally come up out of Great North Mountain and flow
down stream forming an ideal swimming hole. The water is ice cold and as clear
as glass. You can drink it. This has become one of our favorite places to
paint.We recently finished our latest painting workshop at Shrine Mont. It was—as it has been for the last fours years—simply wonderful. It is this sense of place that we are looking for. We look for connections to the landscape—connections to the mountains, still waters, rock formations or to color. Some things speak more loudly than others.
It is
always part of the workshop objective to achieve a “state of mind” when
painting. The painting becomes a witness to that state of mind. Or really, the
various states of mind one experiences when painting like this. The picture
itself is secondary.
There
is a state of mind when discovering. Something spoke to me and I listened; I
explored; I looked and I felt. What spoke to me? What did I hear? What do I
feel? What do I want to share? Things reveal themselves. There is no question
that some places demand your attention and others do not. There could be
meaning in the sound of moving water: a memory. It could be the magnitude of
the mountains: the age, the vastness of one’s surroundings. It could be a
reflection or the way light falls on a tree.
This connection of the artist to the landscape, of the artist to the specific landscape, is one you find through out art history. Georgia O’Keeffe didn’t paint just any landscape but a one that spoke to her, that worked with her vision and sense of place. Cézanne had his beloved Mont Ste-Victoire. Homer, the coast of New England. Neil Welliver, the woods of Maine.
In this
case though it isn’t just any place that speaks. It is also this place, Shrine
Mont, in Orkney Springs, Virginia that fuels our endeavors—a place that people
have been coming to for well over one hundred and fifty years for respite and
rejuvenation. A place originally of tourism and now enriched with spiritual
meaning. It is a place that also sits in one of the most beautiful areas of
Virginia.
Shrine
Mont adds a dimension to this landscape that removes us from the ordinary to
the “extra ordinary”. It takes us away from the commonplace and everyday and
allows us to hear nature’s voice. Things are discovered that may never have
occurred had we only spent a day outside. Shrine Mont has no television, no air
conditioning. It is old and worn and very special.
“At
such times there is a song going on within us, a song to which we listen. It
fills us with surprise. We marvel at it.” (Robert Henri)
