Strafford ARTWORKS : Micki Colbeck : Sheep in the Hills

Sheep in the Hills

I had spent much of the summer on various hill farms that surround the Strafford, Vermont valley. Painting the same valley from different angles. The animals on my friend Margret’s farm were particularly tame and fun to watch. If I needed to stop for a while and rest, her turkeys, sheep, pigs, chickens, and horses provided entertainment. At one point her flock of sheep seemed to pose, becoming an extension of the hills behind; I tried to capture that.

March 26, 2009

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Martin Greenland

Congratulations Mikki. It is well deserved. I know a little more about your working methods now and your honesty and integrity are especially welcome. The paintings are even more remarkeable because of this. Although I live in a town, it is situated in glorious contryside. I don’t consider myself to be a countryman or even a naturalist in its usual sense, partly because I don’t like to be categorised but being in the ‘countryside’ is something which gives me deep pleasure and the countryside and it’s nature is a language I know. I feel it in this painting of yours; I understand its language. I can smell those sheep!

June 11, 2012

Micki Colbeck

Martin, Thank you for the thoughtful response. I’ve never worried much about what kind of painter I am; my creativity is intuitive. I don’t consider myself to be a spiritual person, but it is as if the muses give me gifts, be it visions of water, animal, or vegetable. I did grow up in a big city and spent many escaping weekends with farming relatives, hence the sheep, chickens and cows.I was oblivious to the hard cruelty of their lives. I now live in a small village in New England which for me holds the best combination of a cultured community in a rural setting. Happy summer painting.

June 12, 2012

50 of 70

Sheep in the Hills

oil on canvas 30×36 Summer 2008

Strafford ARTWORKS

Micki Colbeck

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