“He that has been a servant
Knows more than priests and kings,
But he that has been an ill servant,
He knows all earthly things.

“Pride flings frail palaces at the sky,
As a man flings up sand,
But the firm feet of humility
Take hold of heavy land.

“Pride juggles with her toppling towers,
They strike the sun and cease,
But the firm feet of humility
They grip the ground like trees.”

-G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse

This is a new Painting from my Eye in the Sky exhibit now hanging at the West End Gallery in Corning. Called Humility, it’s an 11″ by 23″ painting on paper, matted and framed in a 16″ by 28″ hand-built frame.

This painting is in line with the theme of the show but is also an anomaly, with its gray and muted tones and very simple composition. Much of the show features stronger colors and textures as well as more elaborate design. This piece almost feels like a palate cleanser.

I struggled for a bit with its title as I wasn’t sure what I was reading in it even though it seemed to be speaking directly to me. The scale of the tree and the house made the central figure here seem small by comparison and that was what caught my imagination. It was this idea of our smallness before the largeness of nature (the tree), history (the house), and the universe (the watchful eye of the sun.)

The figure making its way through this immensity is humbled in the comparison yet is grounded in the knowledge that it has a path to follow, a part to play.

It is what it is, no more and no less. And that is good enough.

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Eye in the Sky, my 22nd annual solo show at the West End Gallery is now hanging and is available for previews. The show opens on Friday, July 21, with an Opening Reception from 5-7 PM.