Blog

Wow, what an experience!

I just returned from serving as artist-in-residence for ten days on the Manassas National Battlefield and I am incredibly grateful to the National Park Service for the honor. The park is the site of the first major battle of the Civil War and of a second important battle a year later (the two battles of Bull Run). The opportunity to live on park land infused my creative time there with meaning and inspiration that is hard to express.

Being on a site of such historic significance had me thinking daily about the contrast between the violence and death that took place there in 1861 and 1862 and the beauty of the current park. I thought daily about the fact that much of the park’s land came from plantations that used slave labor. At meals I would look out at the field and forest next to the house and see the little white wooden house belonging to Lucinda Dogan who helped wounded soldiers during the two battles of Bull Run and lived to age 93.

The residency was surprising and rewarding in many ways. Inclement weather forced me to become a calm and quiet studio artist for a week, as opposed to painting outdoors every day from sunrise to sunset (as I did last summer at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore). My week in the studio was followed by two sunny days of painting for the public at the Visitor’s Center.

I arrived on a sunny afternoon and explored the park, taking photographs and making notes, before a powerful thunderstorm arrived. The torrential rain and dramatic winds knocked over trees and power lines. At 8:30 p.m., I looked out to see a rainbow in the east and an eerie orange sunset in the west.

Over the next seven days the skies alternated between drizzle and downpours. The ground grew spongier, trees leaned over, the Bull Run Creek ran brown and fast, and ticks thrived in the grassy fields. My rain boots would sink deep into the dark red mud (formed by iron deposits and volcanic rock) typical of the park. I tried to paint “en plein air” but my umbrella and easel couldn’t withstand the wind and rain, so I adapted my methods to the weather and stayed inside.  I transformed the dining room into an art studio.

The rain became my soundtrack: raindrops on the trees surrounding the house, rain on the roof, the wind in the cedars. The thunder alternated with the sounds of the radio as I painted from photos taken on the first day.

I took daily breaks to swim laps (at the largest and nicest indoor swimming facility I have ever seen - the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center - only 15 minutes from the park). 

My good-natured housemate, a ranger in summer law enforcement, didn’t mind my turning the oven into a drying rack.  It was so damp the paintings needed a little help to dry.

During my last two days at the park, the skies turned blue with large cumulous clouds, perfect for outdoor painting. As the storms were clearing, I started a painting of this view looking south from Matthews Hill toward Henry Hill. Notice the split rail fences which are typical of many civil war battlefields.

Due to the change of weather, I was able to do a painting demonstration for the public. I set up on Henry Hill, an important site in both of the battles of Bull Run. I could imagine the troops fighting on this hillside as I focused on capturing the fast moving light on the two golden fields in the distance (Dogan Ridge and Matthews Hill), the clusters of green trees, and the dark gnarly eastern red cedar trees that served as punctuation marks in the landscape. (Those trees are distinctively gnarly and prickly and I associate them with the Gettysburg and Manassas Battlefields.)

The scene I painted is on the left side of me. The painting is a work in progress.

 Curt, me, and Courtney at the end of the demo.  Note the red cedar tree behind us.

During my demonstration, I learned a great word from Park Ranger Courtney James: “viewshed.” Preserving the viewshed is one of the park’s goals and one I appreciate. Looking north from the Visitor’s Center, you won’t see power lines or modern homes, only the land close to the way it appeared in 1861. This kind of view is not easy to preserve in what is now suburban Washington D.C.

On my last day, I returned to Henry Hill outside the Visitor's Center to paint the Henry House. I enjoyed meeting dozens of school children visiting the park for their end-of-the-year class trips. They were enthusiastic and interested in the painting process.  I also spoke with a Civil War re-enactor who belongs to the historic Sudley Church and plays the role of a northern soldier who was cared for by a southern family after being wounded in the first battle of Manassas.

I started a number of paintings I'll be finishing over the next month.  Here are a few of the subjects: 

The Lucinda Dogan House

View from the Visitor’s Center on a cloudy day

Henry House 

I look forward to showing you the completed paintings, including the one I will donate to the park. Rain or shine, being at this historic site caused me to remember our country's past, fired up my imagination, and made for an unforgettable experience.