Copp's Hill Cemetery - North End

"Touring the Foot of Copp's Hill Cemetery - North End" (Oil on Canvas, 20"X24" $800)

I did this in the summer of 2010 because I felt that I wanted to express my interest in the passage of time and the fleeting lives we live. I also like the calm and peaceful feelings that come from seeing those who have gone before, lying in their spots for all these years. I always wonder how they lived and what basic circumstances really were like in their time. The dappled light of this scene didn't hurt either.

I did a charcoal line drawing right on the canvas from this spot and then took a photo to capture the colors and lighting effects so that I could put them in taking a little more time than I'd be able to by painting it on site. I like the way that you can follow the spots of light all the way to the back. The white marble monuments and lower gateposts also bring the viewer into the background, lending depth to the picture. The background is also where the tourists visiting the cemetery are crouching, or walking in the shadows.

The main focal point is of course the old tree, probably from the 1700's, along with lots of the graves. To me it symbolizes presence as well as the passage of time. I like the resemblance (from this angle, anyway) of a human hand reaching out of the ground and reaching into the air, palm upward.

I have another of these paintings - of the cemetery - that I'm doing now and will post soon.