The Mother Lode - S. A. Walton Original Acrylic Wildlife Paintings

MOTHER LODE

Chipmunk and Peanuts
Dimensions 9 x 12 inches
Medium: acrylic on 100% cotton watercolor paper

Price: US $ 375

If you are like me, you've enjoyed the antics of chipmunks around picnic tables and woodpiles, seen them featured in cartoons, and probably even passed along a few peanuts to them in a neighborly way at the campsite. Beautifully endowed with racing-stripes, these little creatures are very popular residents of the woodlands and much admired for their energetic stockpiling of nuts destined to become sustainance during the winter months. In terms of hoarding, they can put even the most determined of gray squirrels to shame.

I opted to paint this little fellow on an oversized pile of peanuts because in addition to chipmunks, I am extremely fond of roadside stands, farmer's markets, and other folksy parts of American life. From my earliest days, I can remember going with my parents to Soulard Market in St. Louis, an ancient farmer's market where abundant produce was hawked by theatrical marketers and where even a child could purchase a mountain of delights - including roasted peanuts and pretzels- with a meager amount of change. It was a terrific place, teeming with people of all colors and nationalities and with both standard and exotic produce and spices perfuming the air.

Of course, roadside stands are more a rural sight, and I had the pleasure of growing up with them as well. In the south you will see signs advertising 'boiled peanuts' or 'hot boiled goobers' and at such stands you might even procure a pound or two of cajun spiced crawdads. (The combination of goobers and crawfish is something not everyone can appreciate.)

But my favorite way to get peanuts is to buy them from a seller at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, where you pass your money down the row of Cardinal's fans and the peanut-hawker tosses the bag directly to you, without losing a single morsel on its flight. Somehow things taste better at the park, around the campfire, or at the ballpark, however humble the fare. And peanuts taste best when shared- either with a friend at the ballpark, or with a chipmunk on the back porch rail.