Irish Soldier

Irish Soldier

This painting was created in an impressionistic style of the central cross street on
Rt 501 as it moves through Buena Vista as Magnolia Avenue, and flows south towards the noted Natural Bridge nearby. The town through out most of its history, like so many small places in this area has depended on the various mills and plants to keep them viable. Most have closed now and so have many of the shops along the street. It is a condition that is common enough here to be readily appreciated without much need for comment or explanation; although I do frequently find the need to explain the painting’s name. Some are able to make the connection without.. but they are rare.

Unlike the long established Virginians of my father, my mother’s family are more recent Irish, with the large generational steps sometimes found in Irish families that marry later. This creates a bridge to the customs and memories of the past as well as the oddity for myself of living in this present century, and having great grandparents who were adults during the time of the American Civil War. The phrase at any rate, of “Irish Soldier” was used to point out or describe anyone who was ragged or “down at the heels”. Hence the use here in the painting of a working class town feeling the bite of an untrustworthy economy and suffering its effects self- consciously in the late summer sunshine.

Irish Soldier belongs to the following groups: