A master of the pastoral landscape, Panabaker deftly captures the light of a cold and crisp winter afternoon in this timeless logging scene. Rendered in loose, painterly strokes, there is an undeniable romance to the artist’s depiction of the simplicity of a day’s labour in the Canadian landscape. Perhaps drawing inspiration from rural surroundings near his home of Hamilton, Ontario, the artist evokes the nostalgia of a bygone era: guiding a horse-drawn sled across a snow-covered field toward the glowing late afternoon sun, a logger returns home after a long day, his red wool coat a bright spot against a blue horizon dotted with clouds. Drawing attention to the pair of horses at the centre of the canvas, the composition leaves the viewer with an indelible impression of the powerful animals pulling the sled; one can almost imagine the rustling of their harness and the satisfying crunch of their hooves against the snow.
