Inspired by the city our Constitution built

Nuts! pastel

Standing before The White House, or on the hilltop property of the much less visited, cared-for, and celebrated home of ex-slave and (later) statesman, Frederick Douglass, the great ideas on which this country were founded haunt and inspire. Our Constitution has been under attack from its birth, more from within our borders than from outside, truth be told. In the last few years Old Glory has become a logo for the ‘marketers of consensus’, drained of meaning by a group of suited and self-satisfied lapel pin-heads. Shameful.

A few years ago I stood in front of the White House for the first time, and I was surprised by the sudden swell of pride and fascination I felt for the place. Without Gettysburg and Antietam, FDR and JFK I doubt it would have stirred me so. This nation has gone through a lot to preserve the foundation of its common voice, if not always its common sense. Standing there with Washington’s tall spirit nearby, I looked past the stone and iron fence to the iconic, pillared façade in the distance. In between, two squirrels played on the expansive lawn of ‘their’ semi-private, manicured park. I wished I could be one of them, just for a day. In the warmth of that late spring morning the ‘landscape painter’ in me overtook the citizen, daydreaming what other interesting views could be had that too few get the opportunity to see and enjoy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Good Life; Study for Nuts!, pen & ink