Roses among the Thorns

This is a scene in my backyard near my small studio.  The roses were the gift from a former owner, and although I am anything but a gardener, I've managed to keep them alive, if not thriving, for the last six seasons.  Each year, on precisely the first of April, the first rose appears.  (I've paid attention to the date the last two years.)  After that, I have a summer of wonderful color.  I've become a rose fan.

Yet, lurking in the corner of the property is one of the ugliest telephone and electrical poles you've ever seen.  If there were anymore wires hanging on it, I'd fully expect it just to topple over, if it could!  Most of the time, I never even notice it, I suppose because we've generally become immune to the ugliness that is all around us in the city.  But at times, I've been fascinated by the pole....and more than once I've thought of painting it.  (There are some that are even worse in the little town of Locke...and I've often considered trying to paint those.)  Anyway, on Friday, I noticed the morning sun hitting the roses....and towering above them, Mr. Ugly.  I got out my EasyL and set it up in a spot where I could see both the roses and the pole.  I cut an elongated piece of canvas and taped it to a scrap of lightweight foamcore.

The weather has been cooking this weekend, so I painted for awhile on Friday morning, set up again on Saturday morning and pretty much finished.  After looking at it last night, I decided it needed something else, so this morning about 7 am, I set up my camera tripod and took a number of pictures of myself in the garden.  I went out to the Studio, turned on the A/C (it's supposed to get to between 106 and 111 so it's hot already at 9:30 am.) and painted myself into the picture.  So one could say it's essentially a version of a rose(s) between two thorns.  

Roses Between the Thorns   Oil on canvas   approx.  17 x 9

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art