This painting represents homes like that of artist Patrick Henry’s childhood on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Growing up just west of Ocean City in what was then a rural area, Patrick says everyone had something in the backyard to help them get by: a few chickens, two or three pigs.  Many hands were needed to take care of the daily chores, and houses like this one held multigenerational families.  
 
This house is abandoned now, like many houses in the area.  Patrick says change to this area started happing in the 1950s and accelerated in the 70s and 80s. “You didn’t really realize it at the time” he said. A young forest has now grown up in an area that was once a thriving community, and down the road farmhouse after farmhouse is overgrown. This old house, though, is captured forever on canvas, a tribute to a rural way of living.
 
12” x 16”
Oil on Canvas
2020