Peace be with You/Vrede zij met U
oil on canvas
30 x 80 cm
painted on location - Fri 21 Jan 2011
Why this title you may ask? Well let me explain...it came to me while I was on location, working on this painting. Something about the gentleness of this scene, had me repeating these words, like a mantra, strange! ....The municipality has taken away all the poles, the barbed wired fence, and the cement pavement leading to this beach. Actually, they were removing the poles while I was painting. Thus apart from the small blue square on the right, which is the backside of a sign, you have before you only Nature. Mother Nature in It's purity. A slight glimpse of the sky, the vastness of a gentle sea, reflecting the soft, shadowy light, on a sometimes sunny morning(as the sunlight was sharp for only seconds/minutes at a time). The foreground covered mostly with wild dry grasses, serving an important function of keeping the sand dunes in tact. Unfortunately this is only a temporary situation, as everything, will be replaced....... I have to think of the Joni Mitchell song, "You take Paradise, and You put up a parking lot'
Oh well, for me there is something about this scene that lefts my spirit, thus whether you agree with me or not, the title remains! (tekst Alberto Valentini, http://alberto-valantini.exposeert.com)
