ALL GOOD THINGS DESERVE A PAINTING

"COMING TO AMERICA"

LYNCHBURG, TN-No village could possibly be lovelier than this one, a city that claims Jack Daniel and his world-renowned whiskey empire as its own. I came here to get a feel for the town, the local people and the crowds coming soon to celebrate the international barbecue festival. The drive from Atlanta through Chattanooga, over mighty Mont Eagle to this destination is one of the most colorful in the country.

If this doesn’t inspire a few paintings, I thought, what would?

My home for a weekend is the farm resort called Parish Patch owned and managed by a delightful couple, David and Claudia Hazelwood. It’s near the Duck River and the village of Normandy, another rural Tennessee town that will steal your heart away. Cows graze alongside horses in pastures that must look pretty much as they did during the Civil War. The air is clear, the water pure and the people are easily America’s finest.

My mission is to decide what I want in my new painting. People of course, including visitors and locals. Flags, fires and grills provide excitement while children play and their parents eat barbecue. Bluegrass music, the live kind, rings out over the town and cloggers from other cities come to dance an autumn day away.

At the center of everything is Jack Daniel, the whiskey maker of long ago whose name is recognized the world over. He’s bound to be in the painting somewhere.

Work for me now is painting according to what others want to honor, celebrate or preserve. That can be a city, a charity, a tourist destination or the happiness that comes from the birth of a child. It’s fun for me and the joy comes from learning more about the South and all of America.

That’s a big part of the reasons I’m here now in beautiful Tennessee.

I’d love to hear from others who came this year or in the past. Bigoart1@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Olivia Thomason