Not Yet

16"x20", oil on canvas; $595 USD

I live in an area of increasing suburban sprawl, 20 miles outside of Philadelphia. The county I live in is about half developed and half open space, but it feels like the open space is losing the battle faster and faster each year. I was taking a drive one day on a country road in an under-developed area not too far from my house when I spotted this scene. I pulled over and snapped a quick reference photo that inspired this painting. I call this "Not Yet" because it has not yet been developed, but this is an example of a typical rural landscape in my area that seemingly overnight becomes transformed into a development of townhouses, retirement facilities or "McMansions". I'm actually grateful for this housing bubble burst because it has slowed the sprawl to a large degreee, at least for the time being. I just hope builders will use this oppotrunity to rethink the impact they have on the environment and realize that there is only a finite amount of stress that it can handle...impact on animals, ecosystems, water usage, cars on roads not built to handle the volume of drivers they now experience, air and noise pollution, and the impact on schools and teachers having to teach ever larger classrooms. I don't have the answer to suburban sprawl but I think we all need to slow down and talk about what we can all do to address it, now before it gets any further out of control.