Paintings

Since I'm still sick and I'm spending another day at home, I figured I could focus on some of the art in the house. When one tires of looking out at the golf course, it's good to have paintings about. I supposed I could look at the TV, but I try to curtail how much time I spend looking at appliances.

These are both Haitian paintings I grew up with.

This one is often a favorite of visitors who come to the house. I think it's because it tells a rather lively story. Two boys with slingshots killing little birds flitting about a coconut tree. A man approaches them hiding a switch behind his back. They've been told before not to do this, or else he wouldn't be so stealthy. A woman watches from beneath a flamboyant tree (his girlfriend? their mother? both?). The mountains are green in the distance. I can tell by the trees above the houses that it is not mango season.


This is another type of domestic scene entirely. One boy is studying intently by candlelight, another watches him. The mother is cleaning rice or djondjon by the fire. What she is doing is hard work, but she giving her son the privilege of using the candle. His education is worth it.