COVERED BRIDGE ON THE YELLOW BREECHES By Cecelia Lyden

oil/canvasboard

11x14

www.ceceialyden.com

A group of us took advantage of this beautiful, sunny, pleasant day and painted or sketched at Messiah College. Years ago, covered bridges, as subject matter for paintings, were thought of as "corny" and overdone. Maybe they still are, but their presence, situated in serene settings are so peaceful and comforting--the reason they still appeal to me and so many people.

HERBS AND SPICES By Cecelia Lyden

oil on stretched canvas

22x28

www.cecelialyden.com

lyden1819@comcast.net

This brick building, bright red in the brilliant sunshine, is home to The Rosemary House, a fresh herb and spice business that has been in Mechanicsburg, on the same street for decades. I painted this from a photo I took around the 80's. I revisited it lately and noticed some changes, but mostly it remains the same. I love the warm color of the brick and the arched passageway, which remind me so much of the brick arched passageways in many of the Dutch genre paintings. Many of those paintings have such warm light, cool shadows and crisp colors. I saw all of that when I came upon this street scene.

LIVING WITNESSES, THE COPSE OF TREES By Cecelia Lyden

oil on stretched canvas

16x20

http://www.cecelialyden.com/

lyden1819@comcast.net

I paid my first visit to the Gettysburg Battlefield this past Thursday. I had passed by it many times to visit my cousin, who lived nearby, but had never entered the grounds. I went there to paint with my fellow plein air painters, but I did not get much work done. Armed with my camera, I became a tourist and began snapping photo after photo.

It was a cloudy, chilly morning, which lent itself well to the somber setting. Many have told me what a beautiful, serene landscape the battlefield is, how peaceful and spiritual it is, worthy of deep respect and reverence. I felt all of these things and yet I also felt a profound sadness. With 600,00 dead, Americans fighting Americans, The Civil War to me is the saddest of wars.

After looking around, I settled on the Copse of Trees, learning about its significance later. The trees are aged, but still standing, protected and revered as living witnesses to the bloody, hand to hand violence that took place around them in July of 1863.

I decided not to place the old trees in a serene setting, but to depict them as writhing, agitated and bent over in pain. I used red in the sky and on the ground to symbolize the blood shed. This rendering, I feel, more closely represents my feelings about the Civil War and all wars.