This nostalgic image is a composite of two different locations that have special significance to me as the artist. The barn and farmhouse are located in Southeastern Idaho, where I was raised. I grew up next door to my grandparents who had a small farm on which my brothers and I worked. The winters were cold but somehow beautiful and invigorating. The rest of the landscape is from Ontario, Canada, where I lived for a couple of years. I fell in love with the streams and woods that are so abundant there. The tree in the foreground is the feature that tied the two locations together for me. If you look closely you will notice a crude tree house and the remnants of a rope swing, important ingredients of a boy’s life – wherever he is from!
by Greg Olsen