Uncertainty, 16x12

"Uncertainty, 16x12" Pastel  ©Brenda Boylan

The road less travelled, in this case, is what this painting is all about. I often write about my family farm and my childhood memories that surround it. Directly behind the our farm house and property there is an old log road that leads to the top. When my Dad was a young boy, he'd hike up the hill and set up camp on the top, above all of Creswell. Then once he had hiked my sister and I up there when we were grade school aged, feeling above all the earth when we reached the summit. At the top there was a fresh cold spring that we could drink from that made us feel connected to the earth. Late last summer, my Dad at age 75, my husband, and two kids hiked up the mountain again. It had been years since I climbed it and, as for my Dad, he was so much more in shape than all of us! At the very top we ended up scrambling through some blackberry brambles and perhaps some poison oak, Oregon blueberry, ivy, and thick brush. The ground was not to be seen, only the tall trees above and the sky peeking through the fir and ash trees overhead. We came upon a dirt road and started downhill to the other side of the mountain, passing through private property.  As dusk was upon us we approached this road (above) and thankfully my Dad knew exactly where we were, but it would be around 3 miles on the country road to the farm house by foot. It was getting late and the sun was setting, so we cut through a pioneer cemetery and another neighbor's yard littered with horse poo, back onto our property. With no real path to follow we just faced downhill by my Dad's memory and found our way back.  "Uncertainty" is a road less traveled.

Old logging road

On the way up

View from the top overlooking the farm