International Pickup Truck

International Pickup Truck triptych

 I remember when my dad started teaching me to drive. He had a 1963 International pickup truck with a standard transmission, blue and white, and it took all my teenaged muscle to move that gearshift. I was learning fairly well, I thought, as we drove on the gravel backroads, and I even managed the hilly terrain with a lot of help from Dad. 

But then, it was time to drive IN TOWN. We lived in a small community, built on a hillside along a large lake. Our town boasted the only stoplight in the county (and I think that still holds true!) The stoplight was pretty much at the base of the hill, and from there the road climbed up away from the lake. (The view there is spectacular!)

You know, if I hit that light when it was green, the hill beyond it was not too bad, even for a student driver. But, if I got a red light, or had to turn at that intersection... well, let's just say that I had more than one angry driver behind me, and I was one very embarrassed teenager! That pickup did not respond well at all to my inexpert attempts to shift, let out the clutch, and press the accelerator while avoiding traffic (probably only one car at a time!) to begin climbing that hill. 

6" x 6" each piece, 3 pieces

Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas

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This triptych has been in my studio for quite a while. I started working on it, and came to a point where I could not see where to go next. In a sense, I had to decide whether to turn or stop or go straight ahead with it. My Beloved Husband suggested that I paint a triptych that could be viewed in several different ways, including lining up the pieces like they are laid out in the picture above. (They look so great that way!) It may be hard to tell, but the colors are blue and white, purple and gold, with a little iridescence and some interference colors mixed in too. I think I can see the lake and the gravel roads, and maybe even that intersection with the stoplight in it. 

We come up on intersections every day, don't we? I mean, choices to be made, changes in direction, sometimes pauses in activity. Often these choices are a lot more complex than mine were when I came to the stoplight in that pickup. (By the way, wouldn't it be great to own that truck now?) It sure would be nice to have Dad beside me to add his muscle to mine on the gearshift, or to teach me how to hold the brake at the same time I press the accelerator.