Mark Keathley Welcome Fall is available in the following sizes:
12x16, 18x24 and 25.5x24
The Welcome series is straight from my heart. I love life in
the country. The first day we moved from the city to the country we finished
moving in and then stepped out onto the back porch that evening and felt
totally different - like we were our own people - we weren't following
others any more. It took some adjustments for sure, the conveniences of town
were missed for the first couple of months. I think we went into town at
least once every day, but soon we learned how to manage that part of this
new life and we set out to build our dream. Now don't get me wrong, life in
the country isn't a dream, it was just our dream. The work load of the
demands of animals and land weighs a bit, but it offered me something to do
with my boys that we needed and it served us well. We found out, though,
that all our friends (who had come by our city home daily) didn't want to
make the trip out to our new place in the country and we missed the folks
that would often drop by to visit. So much so, did I miss it, that I invited
the UPS guy in for coffee on occasion. So with this idyllic setting in the
Smoky Mountains, I did a "no no" and left the gate open so you would feel
the longing of your presence and the invitation for your company. I hope
this open gate expresses your hearts desire for others to "enter in". The
company of accepting friends and neighbors is the richest of blessings, Hope
- I sincerely hope you have this wealth.
Welcome Fall :
In my Welcome series of paintings, the Fall scene is one I experienced last
autumn when I visited this pioneer farm near Cherokee NC (just over the
mountains from Gatlinburg.) The colors and the light were breath taking that
morning ... the dew still sparkled in a few places and the light bounced off
the leaves as they put on the best for the show. I climbed thru a small
thicket (no trail) and pushed through to a spot that I thought would be
grand with the sun just peaking over the distant hills. You can't hear it,
in the painting, but the rush of a river is off to the left, a rooster was
crowing somewhere in the field behind the cabin and some elk were grazing in
the pasture off the the right. A magical place indeed!
