Autumn Dance: The Story of this Painting by Steve Henderson at Start Your Week with Steve —

Autumn is a season of transition, and one of its best aspects is also its worst: one day, it can be bone-chilling cold, warning us that winter is near; and the next, the breeze is almost balmy, a gentle reminder that summer wasn’t that long ago, and even though the leaves have changed color, there is plenty of time yet for a dance in the summerhouse.

Some of our most memorable moments are the ones we spend with the people we love. Autumn Dance, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; licensed print at Framed Canvas Art and iCanvasART. Limited edition print at Vision Art Galleries.

Autumn Dance captures one of these transitory moments — a first, and best, father/daughter dance during a time of life when a young girl knows that she is a princess, and her father is a king. Highlighted by light, the couple is yet in a world of their own, the birds on the water serving as their primary audience.

Someday, when the little girl is older, the dances she attends may be more formal, more established, more conventional — but they also won’t be as magical, because this is a spontaneous, unaffected event. In a time when the family is under increasingly hostile scrutiny, and when the focus is on the sad dysfunction of some, it is easy to overlook that many families still function well, fulfilling their purpose as a place of safety, haven, protection, and teaching for the world’s vulnerable little ones.

For many children, the first and best teachers are their parents, and fortunate is the young woman who learned her first dance steps at the leading of her father. He may also show her how to reel in her first fish, use a pocket knife without cutting her finger, and defend herself in a tight situation. While television and movies like to portray fathers — if they are in the script at all — as clueless buffoons, a true father, like the one in Autumn Dance, delights in the little girl that he knows will all too shortly — before many autumns pass by — grow into a strong, confident mature woman — who will always hold a place in her heart for him.

Read the rest at Start Your Week with Steve — Autumn Dance, Steve’s licensed art at Amazon.com, and Christmas Cards through GiveWrite.

Autumn Dance is available as an original oil painting, 24 x 30 on panel, with the frame included in its purchase.

Autumn Dance is also available as a licensed, open edition print at iCanvasART, and Framed Canvas Art. Autumn Dance is also available as a signed limited edition print at Vision Art Galleries, which provides fine art to conceal you big-screen TV when not in use.

As always, feel free to contact Steve Henderson Fine Artdirectly by e-mailing Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com with your questions and comments about Steve’s original oil and watercolor paintings or licensed open edition prints.