Jeffrey T. Baker
We were jostled by the light.
Long after my father and I stood on his tiny balcony in Boise, ID and watched the sunset turn the bare branches of a quivering copse of trees a fiery orange against the roiling black of a summer storm, I sat in my studio and relived that moment hour after hour. As I worked on this drawn recreation of that experience my thoughts wandered all the tangents that erupted from that one instant. I found myself pondering the effects of time and distance on parents and children. I considered the Biblical story of a burning bush. I contemplated the effects of contrasting extreme lights and darks and then I teased that metaphor out farther. I remembered other storms that had rolled through my life and I anticipated storms to come. In short, I completely altered any future complacence I might have experienced towards storms, sunsets, groves of trees, visits to Boise, and prophetic visions. In developing this drawing I had developed myself and made my own experience of reality deeper and more magical.
We were jostled by the light. captures a moment when sun and storm fought over a stand of trees during the first minutes of a visit with my father. It is blogged about here, and in a rather contentious posting about art vs. hobby here.
We were jostled by the light.
acrylic, toner, tea, charcoal, and pastel on paper
20.5" x 30.5"
Copyright Jeffrey T. Baker, 2008
Private Collection
We were jostled by the light.
Long after my father and I stood on his tiny balcony in Boise, ID and watched the sunset turn the bare branches of a quivering copse of trees a fiery orange against the roiling black of a summer storm, I sat in my studio and relived that moment hour after hour. As I worked on this drawn recreation of that experience my thoughts wandered all the tangents that erupted from that one instant. I found myself pondering the effects of time and distance on parents and children. I considered the Biblical story of a burning bush. I contemplated the effects of contrasting extreme lights and darks and then I teased that metaphor out farther. I remembered other storms that had rolled through my life and I anticipated storms to come. In short, I completely altered any future complacence I might have experienced towards storms, sunsets, groves of trees, visits to Boise, and prophetic visions. In developing this drawing I had developed myself and made my own experience of reality deeper and more magical.
We were jostled by the light. captures a moment when sun and storm fought over a stand of trees during the first minutes of a visit with my father. It is blogged about here, and in a rather contentious posting about art vs. hobby here.
We were jostled by the light.
acrylic, toner, tea, charcoal, and pastel on paper
20.5" x 30.5"
Copyright Jeffrey T. Baker, 2008
Private Collection