End of Harvest
“Anyone who has grown up around farms knows well the end of harvest ritual of going through the fields looking for the leftover crops that were passed over or missed on the actual reaping,” says artist Morgan Weistling. “Kids from nearby farms and homes would be invited to follow the wagon to help out.”
The lively composition in this sunlit landscape starts your eye with the young girl’s face in the lower right, an autumn nymph whose joy in the late-harvest work party spreads throughout the painting. It’s even an olfactory feast for the farmer’s dog that lopes along, grateful for the rich unearthed scents and the children’s company as they make a game of gathering the final squash and pumpkin before winter yields a killing frost.