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| "Land of Linclon", Original Acrylic Painting on 5.5" x 12"Wood Panel |
September's
Nibblefest Art Contest week has started (on the 20th). The theme for
this month is "Furry Friends" and this is my
interpretation/entry.....
I kicked around only a few ideas for "Furry Friends" before finally settling upon this one. It's actually an image I've had in my head ever since a Nibblefest contest a few months back, when the theme was "Animals in Hats". I had fully intended to participate that month -- ruminating on all kinds of well-known, historic hats that I could potentially work with. Lincoln's iconic 'stove-pipe' top hat came to mind, and so I planned to create a portrait of Abe sporting an exaggeratedly tall top hat, with an owl peeking out from a hole in it. The owl (appropriately symbolizing 'wisdom") would literally be "IN a hat", rather than the more obvious route of having an animal WEARING a hat. In the end however, it was such a crazy busy summer that I never did manage to even start on an entry that month, despite my clear concept and the fact I'd fished around in my stash of second-hand canvases and painting supports to find the perfect, tall-and-skinny piece of found wood....
Fast forward to this month when I was thinking about "Furry Friends". Animals came to mind of course, but while I do adore critters of all ilk -- I just couldn't get myself in the mood to paint one. Mostly I couldn't stop thinking of my earlier Lincoln portrait idea -- the image repeatedly popping into my mind. And so, figuring he's portrayed often enough in the historical record with a beard that he reasonably counts as 'furry', it's the route I took....
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| "Land of Lincoln" Side View, showing painting extended on all sides, as shown here..... |
I did change a few things from my original concept. For one, I swapped out the owl I'd initially had in mind, with a cardinal. The Cardinal is the official state bird of Illinois, Abraham Lincoln's home state (and mine). The following is my auction description:
I live in Illinois, not so terribly far from the state capital of
Springfield, where Abraham Lincoln, our much-beloved 16th president,
lived, worked, grew a beard (hence was 'FURRY'), and got his start in
politics. I recall taking school trips to his home and his grave in my
youth -- and went on to take my own children to these revered sites,
plus others that have opened since (such as a really terrific
museum/presidential library). All of this Lincoln lore attracts
multitudes of tourists to our area, and as a result Mr. Lincoln is
mighty Big Business in these parts (like, nearly as big as Corn and
Soybeans). Sadly, despite this legacy, my state (whose official state
bird is the Cardinal) is not currently on especially sound footing, not
financially, politically or otherwise. As we continue ride on Mr.
Lincoln's coattails, I can't help but wonder sometimes what he might
think of our "Land of Lincoln" , as the marketing slogan goes, if he
could somehow be with us today....."
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