"Game Board & Firecracker"

     Just about anything made of wood with old paint on it is fascinating to me.  I love things that are worn and weathered and have a history to them.  My love of antiques and especially folk art has taken me down many paths of interest.  Recently I have become interested in antique games and game boards, and have collected a couple.  I love the simplicity of a handmade checker board or the graphic, almost abstract quality of an old backgammon or Parcheesi board, especially one that is well used, but also well loved.

      There are collectors today who collect nothing but antique game boards and they hang them on their walls just like paintings.  Once again, at the risk of being redundant, I love these old boards and the stories they could tell of evenings spent at play in front of a fire before the advent of radio, TV or computers. I can picture a checker or Parcheesi board on a barrel in a country store or a tavern, or maybe in a tent during a military campaign, offering a small diversion and small pleasures, and doing the same, even today. 

     I did take some liberties with this particular board when I painted it, adding color here and there as well as scratches and cracking paint but the spirit is there, and there really is an abstract quality about it that I like.  It was painted for another “Red White and Blue” show.  While I was working on it I felt like it needed “something” to provide added interest and to help give it some extra depth, enhancing the trompe l’oeil effect, so I added the firecracker which works well, I think.  

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