Excitement filled me as our class approached the old brick building. Never before had I visited the Park Rapids art museum, and I was looking forward to spending time viewing the art. As we entered the museum I was hit with the exact smell I expected. It reminded me of a museum I went to with my grandma in seventh grade. With my grandma I remember thinking the museum smelled old and gross, but now the smell was comforting.

Walking up the wooden stairs I kept my eyes peeled. Our assignment required us to choose a painting then describe it in an essay. Several rooms were filled by different styles of paintings. I chose the room filled with paintings done by a local artist. His paintings stood out to me because of the process he goes through when painting them. He chooses a concert to attend, sets up his canvas, and paints the artists onstage while they are performing. I think this requires great talent which is why I chose to write about the painting Frogleg by Nate Luetgers.

Frogleg is a simple painting of six men onstage, each of them playing an instrument. When I first saw the painting the background stood out to me. It is bright green like a tree frog, and to me that’s why the painting is titled Frogleg. The green is complemented nicely by red lines filling the sky like streamers. The man farthest to the left closes his eyes as he gets lost in his saxophone playing. Just to the right of him stands a man playing his bass guitar. In the back of the painting, two men play the drums. One drum set is a normal modern drum set the other is a set of hand drums. This, in combination with the saxophone, gives me the feeling that the type of music being played is jazz. The man farthest to the right is playing a guitar as well. He is looking down at his hands concentrating on the notes he’s playing. The lead singer is standing front and center. He plays the guitar with his eyes closed, losing himself in the lyrics he sings.

When I look at this painting,  I’m overcome with a sense of joy. It reminds me of the concerts that I have been to. Being surrounded by sea of people that all share the same love for an artist overwhelms you in the best possible way, and when I look at this painting all those feelings rush back into me.

I have attended a handful of concerts in my life. My favorite by far has to be Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour. Camila Cabello and Charlie XCX joined her on the tour which excited me because they are also some of my favorite artists. I spent the entire concert on my feet along with my mom, my sister, and my sister’s friend. The energy in the U.S Bank Stadium was astonishing that night. Our seats were amazing, but I don’t think there was a bad seat in that stadium. We sang Taylor Swift songs the whole car ride back to my cabin, and as soon as we arrived my post concert depression set in.

Though this painting is happy as a whole, I felt that when I looked at each of the men onstage individually, they looked sad. Maybe these men were playing a sad song. They wrote the song together, but it meant something different to all of them. Each man was lost in his own thoughts as they played the song, and when they finished, they had tears in their eyes along with each member of the audience. They had tears in their eyes not because they were sad anymore, but because they had overcome their sadness. Performing, doing what they love most, helped them overcome their sadness. That night they cried happy tears because of how far they’d come.

The entire time I wrote about this painting, I was picturing the stage as an outdoor stage. I don’t know why but that’s just the energy I get from it. When I look at the painting and take a deep breath in, I can taste the crisp night air and feel it enter my lungs, and when I look up I see a clear night sky full of stars, the scent of pine trees, and the lead singer’s voice echoing through them.

If this painting were a medicine, the disease would be loneliness, sadness, and emptiness. This medicine cures it, but only if you submerge yourself into the painting. Jump into it as if it were a cold lake on a hot summer day. Let the waves in this lake represent joy and happiness, and let those waves wash away your negative feelings. I have felt these emotions in my life, and I feel that music is one of the best ways to overcome them.

I think the reason this painting would be a cure for loneliness, sadness, and emptiness is because those feelings are the reason we listen to music. Music is often used as an escape, or at least for me it is. I constantly listen to music, and usually I base what kind of music I’m listening to on what kind of mood I’m in. When I’m sad, I listen to sad music and for some reason it makes me feel better. When I’m happy, I listen to upbeat music and it puts a smile on my face. I think that, as I said before, this painting is very happy as a whole, so it would ultimately cure sad feelings.