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| "The Road Not Taken" 2009 Oil on Canvas 36x48" |
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
to where it bend in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
-Robert Frost
For some painting is an expression of beauty, it is to create something that is ascetically pleasing. For others it is to create something that moves the viewer to emotion, to create an impact on the life of the viewer. And yet for others it is personal expression, filled with symbolism that may be privy only to the artist himself, and a select few others. For me, each painting lies to some degree on each of these axes, which may vary from painting to painting. The above composition I chose to paint simply out of a desire to attempt a technique of painting where the palette knife is used in place of the brush. (When viewing the piece, bear in mind this was my first attempt at the technique and many mistakes were made.) For an artist such as myself, who is very detail oriented, it posses a challenge representing the subject matter in such crude terms, yet the technique presents sensational texture, which imparts to the painting a sense of relief sculpture. The beautiful reds, greens, and golds found in fall foliage are complemented beautifully by such texture. The technique, though crude, can be quite challenging. One of the greatest advantages of oil painting lies in its forgiving nature, but paintings that are textured as this are difficult to rework (thus there are many elements in the above painting that I would change if reworking it was not nigh unto impossible).
In regards to meaning, the symbolism of the poem and the painting are one and the same. It should be noted, though, that there are at least two accepted interpretations of this poem. Frost himself warns against interpreting the poem simply. The popular interpretation indicates that the viewer has taken the road 'less traveled by', and that their non-conformist path has 'made all the difference'. The ironic interpretation takes into account the statements indicating that the two roads 'equally lay', have been equally worn, yet it is in retrospect that the viewer will one day see the roads as being uniquely different. The choice of one road over that of another could not have been made under pretense of choosing the non-conforming path, as both paths were equally worn, but it is through rationalization of the personal decisions that one makes that yields to the two paths visible differences whereby their choices may be attributed to, choices that have 'made all the difference'.
