Art Gallery

95 Degrees

The Delaware Canal----which is now a Pennsylvania State Park----had a vital role in Southeastern PA's past. It also had a formative role in my personal past, because I grew up in a house in Washington Crossing, PA, whose backyard segued seamlessly into the towpath of the canal. I have vivid memories of the pre-park canal, which was a great deal more wild than today's carefully mowed hike & bike trail. The changes have been improvements and today the canal is watered it's full length and has a number of welcoming public access areas, such as the one portrayed in 95 Degrees.

This access area lies between Center Bridge and Lumberville and includes a modern parking & rest area plus an authentic wooden canal bridge, painted the traditional barn red. My childhood home was 1/2 mile from another of these bridges, and I've been painting these typical Bucks Co. structures literally for a lifetime.

95 Degrees is mostly about those strong, spiky shadows across the towpath, though. The canal itself, the bridge and the building are counterpoints to the glowing chartreuse and deep aqua patterns of light and shade. It was exactly that temperature when I painted it (according to the thermometer on my keychain) and the heat was nearly hallucinogenic in it's relentlessness. Often the biggest struggle when painting in the summer is merely in not melting!

Email : bertgrrrl@yahoo.com

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