By the Wayside

When I lived in Germany, I would walk from my home into the small town through a field of corn. There was a path that ran through the field and, with remarkable foresight for the early ’90s, there was a German ruling specifying that at least a metre wide band around each field should be reserved for wild flowers and not poisoned with pesticides. As I walked that path, I was surrounded on the waysides by poppies, cornflowers, daisies, chamomile flowers, buttercups, goldenrod and more.

 

Even though my journey was on a rough, sandy path dappled with pebbles, the waysides added to what might have otherwise been a utilitarian walk from A to B, so that to this day, 30 years later, I can recall the vivid colours of the wild blooms.

 

Similarly in my artwork, there are pieces along the way that I enjoy for and of themselves. Often I am not even aware of a “journey”, or a destination, something that only hindsight can provide.

 

It might be easier in terms of consistency and integrity to hide these wayside flowers from you, but that isn’t art. Art is about surprises and spontaneous moments where images speak to you, when you tune in and notice A Thing for its innate value, irrespective of it having to be part of a larger Thing. It’s about chaos and mess!

 

These are some of my flowers By the Wayside.