I have loved this painting ever since I first saw it on a school field trip to the Cleveland Art Museum many years ago. I love the ominous drama of the dark clouds combined with the sturdy and stable sustenance of the wheat fields.
I only discovered, last year when I was at the art museum once more and I took the time to read the caption, that the painting (called "Gray and Gold" by John Rogers Cox who was an American painter) was painted at the beginning of World War II and could be interpreted to represent the crossroads the U.S. faced when considering entering into the war.
I can often feel this sense of looming danger. That's when my fears are stepping forward during times of change and unknown futures.
But I can choose to focus on the impending storm clouds or I can choose to feel comfort from the plentiful wheat. Focussing on the wheat won't make the clouds go away, I know, but it's a more stable grounding for me than the ever-changing sky. When the clouds have passed, the wheat fields, in some variation and most likely not without trauma, will still be there. Or, at the very least, the land for more wheat fields to be planted will still be there.
I have recently done some traveling to England and was taken in by a similar scene. I do *not* attempt to replace or recreate the original painting but it feels good for me that I have made my own photographic version of a painting that has quietly captured my spirit for many years:
