1 minute read
A THOUSAND WORDS
from ICON Magazine
STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK
Saffron’s Spot
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MANY PEOPLE ARE FAMILIARwith my painting Sheep’s Clothing, the sheep in a robe and hood I did in 2003. In my mind, the 2000s were when I was up on the wave, engaged in a series of paintings, and averaging two exhibitions a year. I held classes, performances, exhibitions, and dinners in the studio on Bridge Street, and I traveled to far-away places to paint. A body of my work had already been featured in a museum show.
Sheep’s Clothing was inspired by a lovely ewe named Saffron, whom I met at the Middletown Grange Fair. She was in a barn that was full of sheep and goats that had been washed, groomed, and powdered for the day’s judging events. They were fitted with robes and hoods to keep them clean. It’s something that happens thousands of times at 4-H, Grange, and county fairs across the country every year.
The painting was shown in many high-profile exhibitions such as Phillips Mill and Woodmere, won awards, and was invited to hang in an exhibition of American Artists in London. It went. So did I.
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