Walking in the dark

This is another little (8" by 10") painting done in oil on paper, mounted on panel. It's a companion to this one, and this one. Like those, it's on a museum tour that's taken it all over the world.

I'm not sure why I titled it "Walking in the dark" . I suppose it's a combination of the background character's groping pose, and the foreground character's descent into that dark trench, both evoking blindness for me (a particular horror for a painter!) Sometimes painting is like dreaming, in that one element leads to another without conscious volition, and the meaning of the whole thing has to be pieced together in retrospect.


(click to enlarge)