November First by Andrew Wyeth

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Very much attracted to Mother Nature from childhood, American Realistic painter Andre Wyeth who won National Medal of Arts from George W. Bush, portrayed this painting in 1950 when he was in his middle age. It depicts a scene from grassland showing a little hill with some grass waffling by the whispering wind. The whole scene has an almost a monotone of the grey color with different shades. Maybe the grass is drying up. As the title suggests, it is the day of November First, the beginning of the chilly winter bringing celebrations like Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Painted with watercolor on paper, if you see the painting with a little bit of imagination, you find yourself in open grassland with cold blowing air whistling in your ears. You are standing right beside the little mound on which the grass is trying to stand firm against the swift air. We can feel the artist’s affection towards nature in this depiction. He hasn’t tried to cover all the area or even a considerable part of it. The scene feels like he was sitting on the grassy floor staring at the lawn and just painted it. Any beholder with enough imagination will see the full meadow in this picture. At least, I am envying the artist privilege to reach such calm and peaceful environment far away from the busy and stressful air of the concrete jungles.

You can find this art-work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in USA.