The Smell of Foreboding

The Smell of Foreboding

acrylic on board

7" x 9"

2018

In the city where I grew up there was a Hunt’s cannery that made ketchup and other tomato products. They would begin production every year in early August and you would know exactly the day it started because the entire town would smell like boiling tomatoes. You would wake up one morning and not only smell it, you could feel it—it hung like an invisible blanket in the sky. The worst part was the first day you smelled it, you knew school was starting in a few weeks; the days of summer vacation were numbered and it filled you with a sense of dread. I created this painting with images related to this olfactory memory: the tomatoes, the nun (I attended Catholic school), and the background is the skyline of my hometown.

The 7-color palette is a randomly chosen analogous color scheme: 1. yellow; 2. yellow-yellow-green; 

3. yellow-green; 4. green; 5. green-blue-green; 6. blue-green; and  7. dark blue.