Wendell Berry Portrait in Springville Spring Salon

Beckoning the Peace of Wild Things -  by Greg Newbold
oil on canvas 30" x 18" - 2013

I learned this morning that my recent portrait of Wendell Berry was accepted into the 89th Springville Spring Salon. My painting, now entitled "Beckoning the Peace of Wild Things", will hang in the Salon from April 20 to July 7, 2013. This exhibit is one of the most prestigious juried shows in the region and acceptance is always an honor. I am pleased to be counted among so many talented artists and friends. Congrats to all my art friends and even former students who also gained acceptance!

Springville Museum of Art hours and directions

The painting title comes from the Wendell Berry poem below.

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS 

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

— Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry Sketch

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS 

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

— Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry is considered by many to be one of America's greatest living poets. I was approached a few weeks back to create artwork for an interesting project that sets Berry's poems to music in a double CD package. The challenge was to come up with a scene that combines the best of portrait and regionalist landscape and throw in a couple of nuggets for Berry fans. The painting will be used on two different discs as well as a biographical and lyric booklet, so I needed to come up with a composition that allows for three separate crops. The plan also includes making collector prints of the painting as well which I am painting in oil. I will post more as the project moves along.