More on "No Vacancy"...

I wanted to elaborate on my blog post about my last painting, so here it goes; "No Vacancy" is the official title of this one. Recently I shared this painting with some students of mine and asked what they saw when they looked at it. The responses were different, some saw poverty, some sadness, others saw an abandoned dwelling, homelessness, lack of hope.
  I prefer to think of it on multiple levels, as a symbol perhaps, or just as it was, a lonely space. As I looked past the panes streaked with years of dirt and neglect, weathered and off kilter, I could see there had once been life here. At one time this had been new, clean, solid, cared for. Could this not be a metaphor for our lives? Like friendships left alone too long, or illness, neglect anything of importance in your life, and it will eventually decay, like the window.
  Notice that it has been left open, leaving a dark void like a portal to a different place or time,   inviting us in, or providing an exit for the ghosts that might dwell there........
 Look carefully at it and draw your own conclusions, decide what it evokes in you, and if you feel so inclined, share your thoughts here.

Vacancy-No Vacancy

The Lonely Window...........finished today, title not yet sure, got a few I'm batting around. Saw this when I was wandering and painting in county Mayo in Ireland about five years ago. It has haunted me ever since. I was curious and fascinated by these abandoned houses dotting the countryside. Some of them were famine houses, some old farmhouses, outbuildings. Their owners are long gone, dead, or simply moved on to another home, another life.
 It's late, so I'm not going to write much now, but soon, I'll write a bit about what this painting meant to me, what I am saying here.