Five Days Gone
Five Days Gone
Jennifer Drinkwater. Five Days Gone, acrylic and tempera on wood panel, 24” x 24”, 2022.
Five Days Gone arrives wired and ready to hang. My genius husband Aaron Swanson carefully crafts each panel with high-quality wood, mounting a smooth plywood surface onto a sturdy, mitred wooden frame that provides depth and support to the painting. The sides of the panel are sanded and finished for smoothness.
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Twenty percent of profits support the Mississippi Christian Family Services, an organization “chartered for providing family services with special concern for the distressed, underprivileged, and developmentally disabled in Sharkey County. Membership is open to all who subscribe to the purpose of the organization. A local bi-racial Board of Directors directs the program and a local bi-racial Advisory Committee function in an advisory capacity.”
Five Days Gone limited edition prints are available - check them out here.
The story that inspired Five Days Gone….
In early November 2019, I spent a lovely afternoon with Julia Rodgers Clark and Drick Rodgers on their family farm outside of Rolling Fork in Sharkey County, Mississippi. I loved on horses, rode in a cotton picker, peeked into Mont Helena, and listened to remarkable family stories and histories.
Born and raised in Rolling Fork, Julia left home briefly for college before returning in her early twenties to the family farm, which she helps to manage and where she currently lives with her husband and children. She has a handful of dogs and two, maybe three, handfuls of horses, many of which are geriatric or rescue, living out their golden years in her care. One horse she named Linda as a nod to Linda Blair’s performance in The Exorcist after Horse Linda literally flipped out in her stall after being weaned.
Julia’s also a competitive barrel racer, traveling throughout the south to ride in rodeos. Full disclaimer: I had no clue what barrel racing was until learning about Julia. And if you’re like me, here’s the deal: a person races a horse in a cloverleaf pattern around barrels as fast as possible. When a neighbor taught her to ride when she was a kid, Julia always only wanted to go fast. She rides most days, at least four times a week, and I caught her in between weekends trips to Louisiana to race.
Five Days Gone celebrates Julia’s connection to their Rolling Fork farm. Five days is her limit to being away from the farm. Any more than that and she gets to feeling crazed and antsy and homesick. The one exception to this rule is being on the road with her horses and dogs headed to rodeos.
As a fellow dog-owner, I really get that home is where your animals are. What is it about these furry beings that we cherish and love and that provide so much joy? No answers. But I do get it.