Divided       2012

Watercolour, 18-1/2 x 29-1/4 inches

signed lower right

 

“When I’m staying on the mainland in St. George, Maine, this is the first thing I see upon looking out my bedroom window in the morning.

The porch pillar cutting vertically through the American flag creates the namesake for the painting—’Divided’ as that’s where I see our country right now. Notice how the right side of the flag is larger than the left side, subtly stating my political affiliation; and there is more red showing, as the blue is reduced. The open attic window symbolizes ‘out with the old and in with the new’, a changing of politics in Washington. The flowers on the porch symbolize a re-birth, and the watering can is their nourishment. I just had to include the power meter on the right side of the painting, representing all of the power in Washington. The red, white, and blue theme of the flag  is repeated in the items on the porch. I’ve also changed the colour of the roof to red, which, along with the white of the house and the blue of the sky further emphasize my patriotism.

My friend Robert Skoglund, ‘The humble Farmer’, who I rent from in Maine, used to own the property. He says, in a recent e-mail:

‘When I was 10 I used to deliver newspapers there. I can remember going down to that dooryard in the 40s and watching Ernest polish his motorcycle. I owned it for 20 plus years. I have seen it every time I have looked out of the window for over 40 years. I have seen paintings of it by Gary Akers and Barbara Ernst Prey and Jamie (Wyeth). I had Mac Daggett put on the power entrance. I stuffed insulation in the cellar window. I had Faustini fix the chimney. I rebuilt the porch and put on the storm windows. I caught the kid who kicked out the front door. I have laughed at the chair and the flag and the flower pot on the porch as blatant, obvious props to draw in artists and chided Gary Akers for being sucked in. I have looked at this house many tens of thousands of times over the past 65 years. So what is there not to recognize unless it is the trees to the left on the northern side (some artistic license by me, the artist)?’ ”

– Bradley Hendershot