The Mohonk Tower & Me

I’m one of those people who has spent more than fifty years within daily eyeshot of the Mohonk tower.  It seems to affect some people the way Devil’s Tower imprinted on Richard Dreyfus’s character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  It shows up everywhere. In graduate school far away in the Midwest many years ago, whenever a lecture got boring (I know, how could anyone possibly find Solow’s model of capital accumulation boring?), I’d start sketching Skytop in my notebook.

Why won’t it leave me alone?  (I’m not complaining, mind you, just curious.)  So, to explore this phenomenon, I’ve decided to do an occasional painting that tries to get at the essence of the visual experience of Skytop.  This one zooms right in to the light reflecting off the rocks and treetops.  (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Let me know what you think of it.  I find it strangely soothing as I sit here. . . waiting for the mothership to loom over the horizon.