Sunday, July 12, 2009

Old Fields, West Virginia




I went to Old Fields, West Virginia because of its name and because it was always on the weather map when I looked at the online Weather Channel Doppler readout. It took me a while to find it because there wasn't much of a village there, just a gas station, a church, and some houses. It was originally named "Indian Old Fields," and it is one of the few level places in West Virginia. Because of that, people had been farming its flat valley land for centuries. I made this colored pencil drawing while parked in a church parking lot. I have found that these parking lots are empty except for Sunday and are not locked up or defended, so I can park there and make a sketch. The view was pastoral and peaceful, a bright green sunlit pasture with fresh rolls of golden hay strewn about. I could look at this place for hours, watching the light and clouds changing. Somehow, I don't feel any desire to look at the traffic at Tysons Corner for hours, even though it also changes.

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