A View from a Rooftop
My first introduction to Jim’s paintings was last year when I designed the marketing materials and web site for Jim’s show at Burwell Morgan Mill. I was amazed at the images I saw and included in the flyer, postcard, banner, and web site, and amazed again when I saw the paintings in person at the show along with numerous others I hadn’t seen.
I have never been an art collector or buyer, but the colors, imagery and the stories that Jim’s paintings tell drew me to them in a powerful way. I particularly love this painting, A View from a Rooftop, a scene of Jim’s (and my) adopted home in the Shenandoah Valley. I can imagine Jim sitting on a rooftop during a break from building a pole barn (his day job) and capturing this image to his memory or his sketch pad. It’s a stunning, spontaneous portrayal that reminds me of what a beautiful place the valley is and how lucky I am to live here.
After buying the painting and bringing it home I realized that I didn’t have a space big enough to display this large canvas — we live in an old log home with low ceilings. I decided to permanently loan it to my son who lives nearby. So, I get to see it often, and even better than that, my new grandson will grow up with this masterpiece as part of his earliest memories. As a child he will probably take it for granted, something familiar in his home. But as he grows up I suspect there will come a time when he realizes his good fortune to have lived with this painting from an early age and all that it says about the place he grew up in. And someday, maybe, it will hang in his home.
Jeff Lefkowitz