My walks around the Garden District in New Orleans started when my youngest son was very small. He would accompany me on his little training-wheel bike or his scooter, as he showed me tricks and we explored routes that would take us near sites of past cat sightings. We often found ourselves drawn to the corner of Coliseum and First St., where there was a huge old pink house with an overgrown sidewalk and a weathered carriage house in the back. Standing there felt like a portal in time.
Over the course of our walks we noticed that the house began to show symptoms of being renovated. My curiosity centered on the carriage house, wondering what it might become — and thoughts of what a great studio it would make! In capturing this place, I wanted to depict the old charm in its worn façade, and the enormity of its presence.
The composition of this piece is especially striking, with a strong two-point perspective pulling your attention continuously around the canvas. The eye travels from the crest of the roof on the top-right, diagonally across the row of windows, down toward the bottom-left corner where the fence meets the edge of the canvas. The view is pulled horizontally across the fence, gate, and doors, before being led back up to the branches overhead. The enveloping oak tree provides a sense of shelter coming up from the distance. Cascading over the roof of the house like The Great Wave, the background intrudes into the foreground and you are no longer taking in the scene. You have become part of it.
