This is the third in my series 'Roots'. The inspiration for this painting was a connecting of generations. My memories as a child watching two generations of my extended family roughing it together in the wilderness, reaching out and creating the ties that bond, not bind.
The hunting camp I mentioned in my last post was what they call 'primitive', a large old army tent with a very long, makeshift dining table and handmade bench seating (old tree stumps became bench legs) that ran the length on both sides. Our only heat source was a wood burning stove made from a 50 gallon metal drum and enough stove pipe to clear the top of the tent. The latrine was dug by hand and a board with a hole cut in the middle served as the toilet seat. There was very little privacy but we managed. At night we all slept together in the tent, each one in his/her own army cot topped with a sleeping bag. There was water to be carried by bucket from the creek for cooking and washing up and to make the family favorite...swamp water pancakes. The adults and the kids worked side by side to get the chores completed with no bickering or whining from either side. It was Heaven on Earth to me.
