Hay Bales – August

And it’s another return to my favorite road: Shooks. It starts out as Peebles Road, running south of Essex Road. {The next left turn would take you to Toad Lake, but that’s another story.} This particular view is at the north end of Shooks. Once it passes the lone farmhouse, a sign proclaims it a “seasonal road” (not plowed in winter — travel at your own risk). Down at the tree line it turns west a ways, cutting through a stand of maples. A field of corn on the south side, leaves curled and withered, struggles in this summer’s drought. An ancient log house sits in the maples — possibly an old hunting cabin? Then the road jags south again, through more maples and some very vigorously-growing 5-foot-high dock plants, loaded with thousands of big, fat cockle-burs. Finally it runs into Bennett Hill Road and Shooks Farm. From there it changes names once again to Shooks Road. Hardly anybody ventures down Shooks Road, making it a most peaceful place for a painter to spend a few hours….

Here’s my setup.