Snowscapes of home

The landscape of central New York State, where I grew up, is unmistakable to anyone who has lived there, and when there's snow on the ground it accentuates the forms of the land. I took some pictures from the car when we were visiting my father back in January, and recently made some drawings in pen-and-ink with a light wash added at the end.

The bare, mostly-deciduous trees, the gently rolling hills, the snowy fields, the fences and weeds sticking up through the snow, the fallen branches and isolated farm buildings and roads all contribute to the particular feeling of these rural landscapes that begin somewhere near Canajoharie and stretch past Utica to the east and west, and continue down to the south toward Binghamton.

Better seen from Rt 20 than from the Thruway, it's a pastoral patchwork of small farms, creeks, swamps, and woods that changes with every dip or turn in the road, and has a particular beauty I've never encountered anywhere else. It got imprinted on me at an early age, and will always say "home."

Comments

[Peter]

You sparked a strong memory there. I clearly remember riding a bus -- several times -- from Utica to Binghamton in a somewhat quixotic effort to make it easier for my folks to pick me up for a school holiday. It was early or late winter. Bored or depressed or something, I stared out through the bare trees at the remains of the O&W right of way, interrupted by farmers' earthworks, looked for vestiges of the Chenango Canal and saw a lot of fields that look like your drawings.

[Chris Hughes]

Oh yep, lots of country around Geneva has this look and feel. Really nice work!!

[Marly Youmans]

Lovely. And I almost felt I recognized the last one as off 20...

[Natalie]

Beautiful, Beth, the smooth white empty spaces and scratchy lines.

[Priya Sebastian]

These drawings remind me of those in old Reader's Digests that I used to save up for their illustrations. The monochrome blue and the starkness that you've captured is very much winter.