Miracles, 1981 #1

May 2024

Acrylic, watercolor, paper, plywood

24”x48”

This is the first of two paintings done from memories of my first winter in New Hampshire. This is from my elementary school playground in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The central image is of the “witch’s hat,” a steel merry-go-round hanging from chains, intended for a lot of kids to hang off and spin lazily. By the time I encountered it, it was repurposed into a test of strength and bravery by the biggest, oldest girls “whipping” the smallest kids on the playground, one at a time, with a high rate of injury.