I first saw this homestead a few years ago while driving by it. The setting had everything that Intrigued me as subject matter. However, I could only see a part of the house and glimpses of the out buildings as the property had been over run with trees, bushes and tall grass. I desperately wanted to get out of the car and explore. The place looked empty and abandoned but out of respect for the owners, which I didn't know at the time, I didn't want to trespass.

Early this year, I happened to see a photograph of the same farm taken from a drone by Ellen Tramley Photography. By now the land had been cleared of everything except the buildings. I thought this perspective, from above, was interesting for its compositional properties and I liked the tracks on the land.  Ellen's drone shot became the inspiration for my painting. 

Many things went through my mind as I worked over the months that this painting took to complete. I was fascinated by the snow filled ruts and how they  purposefully swirled and made tracks across the land. And I played around with different versions and directions of them. I wondered how many other sets of tracks were imprinted into the earth on this property over the decades. I also felt, encouraged no doubt by the overhead perspective, as though the stories and memories of past generations of this family, were lifting up into the sky and drifting off, leaving this world forever.

"Tracks" is reproduced in the recently published book: David McKay, RCA an artist's perspective.

David McKay retains the copyright for this image.

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