A Winter Afternoon

I was raised in a small town of Cavalier, North Dakota about 12 miles south of the Canadian border and 25 miles from Minnesota, and I remember skies like this during those frosty winter afternoons as I walked home from school toward the early setting sun. There was something about them that was comforting as I looked forward to the warm living room stove awaiting me at home.



The old stove burned lignite coal which I faithfully hauled in every day. As with all stoves there is a range of heat from too hot at close range to bordering on cold at the far end of the room. Our source of entertainment back in those days was the radio which was about half way across the room.



Sunday evening provided family entertainment with such shows as Fibber McGee and Molly, Charlie McCarthy, Jack Benny, Amos'n'Andy, The Great Gildersleeve, and etc. Those were the days when radio static was excruciatingly frustrating and entirely too frequent. If you haven't guessed by now the time frame was the early '40's and WWII was raging across the world.



Isn't it amazing how a simple painting like this can bring up old memories and challenge the imagination. Frankly, I love it. That's what art is all about.