Terrior

 I was talking to one of my collectors last week about the landscape genre of painting. There are fewer and fewer true landscape painters these days. 

 

I suppose that is due to the urbanization process. Florida is grossly over populated now, with development grinding away any possible land. Urbanization takes people further away from the natural world every year. More people relate to cities, and man made objects now in art. 

 

There are a few of us diehards left who love the rural, upland look of our beloved state. For long years now, I have focused my work on farms, ranches, rivers, lakes, swamps, trees,  and ancient primal lands. MY roots are deep in rural and wild Florida.

 

The French have a term for wine vineyards called Terrior, the special character that a wine is thought to get from the particular place where the grapes were grown to make it : The French tend to talk lyrically about the terroir, the characteristics given by particular climate and soil.  I like to think of terroir from the artist’s perspective as the special emotions that are created when an artists paints a place dear to their hearts. My terroir is north Florida in that way.

 

I have painted in many other places, including ghastly paint out locations. I gave all that up to come home to my roots, the land of my parents and the farms here. I wish I had done it sooner! The best paintings I ever do are in this part of Florida.

 

Country painters love their home lands……