The Painting that Almost Killed Me

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Philip Koch, Yellow House at McDonogh, oil on panel, 
14 x 21 inches, 1995

I just ran across an image of this painting and it made me smile. 
It comes with quite a story. 

I had been asked to participate in a benefit art sale that was to take place on the grounds of the McDonogh School, a private school near my home outside Baltimore.

As the school has a lovely campus I drove out there to find a subject. Carrying my French easel and paints I hiked to the top of a hill on a blistering July day. and set up under the shade of a huge isolated tree. The spot provided vistas in all directions but after checking out all the possibilities, none seemed to have that something special needed to spark a really good painting. So I packed up my equipment and headed over to the shade of another tree 100 yards away.

The new spot offered the view above and I again unfolded my easel and set to work. The air was completely still. Just as I was mixing my first batch of oil color a loud cracking noise broke the silence. Whirling around just in time I saw the huge tree where I'd been standing only minutes before collapse under its own weight. It
didn't lean over and fall to one side. It it fell  straight down, as if it was falling in an elevator shaft. There had been no warning. It was just as if the tree decided it was time to go.

The thick limbs hit the ground and bounced with a thump, thump, thump that shook the ground even at my distance. I doubt very seriously if I would have survived had I stayed in that first location to paint.

I like to fantasize about The Muse coming to visit me as I paint and guiding my hand through difficult passages on my canvases. As for that morning, I'd also like to thank her for making me extra picky when it came to choosing where I should make my next painting.





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