Pantell’s painting Backyards is an urban scene behind the street façade. He finds a family sitting at a picnic table among the things he sees. The trees are bare in either early spring or late fall. But the hearty picnickers are taking in the city air in their meager garden. The trees are leafless; the ground is bare. They are surrounded by buildings, trucks, automobiles, and a clothesline full of drying wash.
Featured Image: Richard Pantell. Backyards (2001), oil on canvas.