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The exhilaration of the open road has been noted often as Toad, in Kenneth Graham’s Wind in the Willows says “Here today—in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped—always somebody else's horizon! O bliss!” and many songs extol; e.g. the “long and winding road”. Willie Nelson’s croon “On the road again - Just can't wait to get on the road again” is particularly poignant as we stay safe at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

I was to have been preparing for a road trip to Sedona in October to participate in the first ever all women Plein Air Invitational – but it has been converted to an online event. 

In their call for a submission of a piece to introduce the artists this year I wanted to feature Sedona  and looked at photos from previous visits as possible inspiration - but was diverted and became most interested in images of slightly fuzzy photos taken from the passenger side of a moving vehicle driving toward Sedona and other places in the South West.

I started with a landscape with sparse but exuberant accents – three dots for trees, little scraggy clouds and a swinging to a portal to a new mystery of possibilities unfolding over the hill on the right. I worked in pastel on a 10x20 inch format entitled Mystery Road. This panoramic proportion strengthens the focus of the road with simple one-point perspective.

 Moving the intersecting perspective point right or left in different compositions gives a tilt – a little like driving I imagine to myself. A burst of ideas flew to mind via old photos. I worked on several images exploring this sense of penetration. In each case I began with a loose watery underpainting and laid the imagery over very minimally (A Haiku process - possibly) This technique suggested diffused sense of memory or hints of rain or change in weather. I make a note to go even looser. A few efforts became too literal – anecdotal rather than sketchy/painty and moved to the bottom of the pile to be reconsidered. 

Framed with a simple thin silver frame they look interesting on their own I think but hanging them in a series side by side in a long row or in a block as a diptych or quartet seems to reinforce the journey idea and strengthen the power. 

See portfolio of Roadscapes.

http://margaretlarlham.fineartstudioonline.com/collections/148826

I do hope I can get to show some of these physically, as a series – but in the meantime I’m happy that they  can work individually and are a manageable size to mail.

Who knows where the road may lead us – only a fool will say!