Blog Carnival: Christina's World

All right, folks.  I'm back back from a bit of a vacation and feeling much better now that all those lovely flowering trees have calmed down a bit and there's not quite so much pollen floating around.  I love spring, but sinuses sure don't.  Ugh.

But I had a nice, stress-free, relaxing break and now I'm back and raring to go.  And since I fell behind a bit last month, I decided to jump right in and catch up on my posting for the EtsyBloggers team.  The latest blog carnival, hosted by the lovely SweetSallySoaps asks us to...

Show me your all time favorite piece of art and why you find it inspiring.

Oh, man.  That's a toughie.  I love art.  All sorts of art.  I could easily offer a top ten.  But to narrow it down to one...  Well, that last bit helped.  One of my favorites immediately leapt out as "most inspiring."  And it's a painting that I first encountered in a junior high art class.  Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth.

It's certainly an aesthetically pleasing, if somewhat bleak, painting.  I love the soft, muted colorscheme.  I love that distant, almost-stormy sky, the stark simplicity of it all.  But what has always struck me most about this painting--what made me pause to really look at it that first time and every time thereafter--is the story.  There is, without a doubt, a story being told here.  It's like a snapshot, a single frame, and if we could just find the play button we could see what's going to happen.

Being an avid reader and writer, I'm always looking for a good story.  And that's just what this painting is.  But what's most inspiring of all is that it's never the same story.  Every time I look at this painting I see something different.  And I've always had to wonder, how did the artist see Christina's World?

And while we're on the subject, how do you see it?