"Here Comes The Sun"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

Before I started on my 11th painting for the upcoming show, I knew I needed a warm up - choosing one of my personal favorites in the Art Institute of Chicago, Jules Breton's The Song of the Lark.

Breton was a French realist painter, born in 1827.  During his childhood, his father tended land for a rich landowner and this subject matter of his native region was prevalent throughout his painting career. 

The Song of the Lark made news a couple of years ago, in an interview by Bill Murray in the Huffington Post, where he recounted his first experience on a stage, which did not go well.  Murray headed towards Lake Michigan thinking 'If I'm going to die, I might as well go over toward the lake and float a bit."  Before he made it to the lake, he stopped in at the Art Institute of Chicago and saw Breton's painting and he thought "Well there's a girl who doesn't have a whole lot of prospects, but the sun's coming up anyway and she's got another chance at it.  So I think that gave me some sort of feeling that I too am a person and I get another chance everyday the sun comes up."

'Any form of art is a form of power. It has impact, it can affect change - it can not only move us, it makes us move.'   ~  Ossie Davis

"On a Lark"

9 x 11"

oil on panel
sold 

I have my personal favorites in the Art Institute of Chicago - 'The Song of the Lark' by Jules Breton is one of them.  A picture says a thousand words...

Back when the movie 'Monuments Men' was premiering, Bill Murray, a part of the cast, opened up during a promotion gig about the painting saving his life.  You can read about it here.

Please click here for a larger view.