It is a crisp and beautiful this time of year in our neck of the woods. A good time to take a fall foliage drive around the region.  Or just take a lingering look out the front window at the red oaks putting on their seasonal show. I’m reminded of the orange and golden hues in Mark Altrogge’s “cathedral” and “apex” paintings looking up at the sky through a tall stand of trees. 

What can be new in such a recurrence?  Our exhibition of Altrogge’s new work in “On The Road Again” holds an interesting observation on movement.  The familiar barns and birches are there, as is his mastery of color and composition.  There is a colorful street scene with pedestrians making haste under their umbrellas in response to an approaching storm. In this exhibit Altrogge introduces Amish buggies in vibrant motion. And some striking views of abandoned cars clearly no longer in motion.  We witness movement AND its absence. Motion in pace with nature.  A stillness sometimes majestic.  Perhaps poignant. 

For me, “On The Road Again” is a luminous meditation on the turn of time toward its next season.  I hear the rustle of leaves in an autumn breeze at sunset, and the clopping of hooves pulling a buggy traversing gravel veins. I smell the damp must of fallen leaves.  The blue jay in a nearby tree cries out “thief! thief!” and I wonder what’s been stolen.  I guess I’ve just taken my time.  What will you see when you visit The Artists Hand?  These paintings await your imagination.