I live in a small city — Asheville, North Carolina. I grew up in a suburb of a larger city — Columbus, Ohio. I’ve lived in Milwaukee, WI, Boston, MA, Portsmouth NH, Indianapolis, IN. I’ve spent summers in New York City. I’ve never lived on a farm. But the vital activity that takes place on farms intrigues me. As an avid cook, quality ingredients are paramount and drive one to healthy sources where environmental stewardship, human practices, and animal welfare are valued.

While my time in Asheville has impacted me in myriad ways, I’ve been especially moved by the distinctiveness of the landscape surrounding the city of Asheville. Western North Carolina is one of the most biodiverse temperate locations on the planet. Organizations supporting sustainable agriculture and home growers abound. Foraging and gleaning practices are common. Farmers markets are robust.

Inspired by the many ways those in Western North Carolina relate to the landscape, I chose to engage a project where I turned my attention toward one farm I admired for the beautiful and intelligent work being accomplished there. Grassroots Farm and Dairy in Marshall, NC is a graceful rolling farmstead, producing outstanding raw milk, yogurt, feta, and labneh.

While painting at this farm I was able to observe lambing season and sheep shearing processes.

Continuing a previous visual interest, I again investigated the presence of a red light as a nurturing element. This time observing an infrared heat lamp as a progenitor of growth and well-being by providing warmth to newborn lambs. Thereby, a red light once again side steps its typical role as an indicator of warning, alarm or danger.

The sheep shearing process particularly caught my attention when working at the farm. Jonathan and Ben Hearne’s expertise was on full display, as they deftly handled each sheep with gentleness and firmness, kindly allowing these animals to find the comfort of being relieved of hot fleece in the summertime. An action that could be initially seen as violent, upon further investigation was clearly loving. Sheep found a lightness in the shedding of a bulky outer layer.

Henry Moore shows sheep grazing with mesmerizing swirling scribbled lines. Francisco de Zurbaran presents a sheep bound in a sacrificial posture. Jean Francois Millet depicts bucolic scenes of shepherds flanking sheep. But I am interested in an indecipherable entanglement of man, animal, fleece, land, where color evokes energy and liveliness.