In his work, Charles Linford focuses upon the power and beauty of nature by drawing inspiration from the works of the French Barbizon painters, creating a strong emotional reaction in the viewer due to the unique tonality and resulting moodiness of his work. His paintings often favored birch trees; this work is a particularly dramatic representation of an autumnal sunset. A field with only a few trees leads into a more densely wooded forest, with a gloaming evening sky showing through the trees. His loose brushstrokes gives the painting a hazy look, while the color scheme is rather dark with contrasting bursts of orange and red-toned clouds with a little blue peeking through them. It is late fall, as the leaves remaining on the trees are sparse and only a little green grass pokes through the quickly dying ground. He demonstrates that man has manipulated nature here by painting a heavily-rutted dirt road that follows along the fence leading into the dark woods directly before us, in the center of the work. One can't help but wonder if this is a metaphysical commentary on the impact growing industrialization is having on the region's natural beauty, the passing of an age of innocence and moving towards an unknown future.
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