Family Business

The Family Business shows my family shucking corn into a bean field. The painting was created primarily with a palette knife, with several figures scattered throughout the scene: two girls sitting in the bed of a truck, a man sitting on a bucket and handing a piece of corn to another girl, and a boy throwing a corn shuck into the field. Each figure is interacting with another person or with the surrounding landscape, creating a sense of shared work.

Although I am intrigued by the entire composition, my favorite part is the way the figures create a V-shape that leads the viewer’s eye toward the bottom of the painting. At the end of this visual path is the finished pile of corn and a small cat.