stressed beyond measure? road trip to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art

I don’t really hate Christmas, per se. I hate running all over town scoping out gifts, going to Michaels for craft supplies several times a day, and agonizing over cookie recipes for the annual office cookie contest (cranberry bliss? orange-chocolate biscotti? peppermint dipped chocolate wafers?).

Then I read this statement from artist Steven Walker in a press release for his painting exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: “There’s a solitary elegance that I try to capture in all of my paintings. It’s all about engaging the viewer in the most calm and serene moment, as if to say, ‘Sit down, relax, and everything will be all right.‘“ I find myself daydreaming about how nice that sounds.

Walker was raised in Richmond, and his landscape paintings draw from road trips throughout Central Virginia. “My love and respect for nature has resulted in a quest to show its beauty through the hidden treasures of back roads, mystical skies, and even dilapidated barns… I like to think of my landscapes as friendly reminders that there’s still beauty to the side of the road and even in your own backyard.“ The show runs from December 8 to January 30, at the museum’s Pauley Center.

So if you don’t know what to do with the pile of relatives clambering through the house this December, pack them into the van for an afternoon outing to the museum. Or, better yet, bail on the family and take an afternoon of calm and serenity all to yourself.

photo: “Yonder” is a 2008 oil-on-board work by Steven Walker. (Photo by Travis Fullerton, © 2008 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts), courtesy of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts