When I look at Dan Finaldi’s paintings, I feel like I’m home, like I’ve returned to childhood with streets lined with sycamore trees casting soothing shadows on a hot summer day, young people sitting on porches or in Adirondack chairs. The speckled bark of the sycamore catches the sunlight in dappled patterns, as do the exteriors of houses built at the turn of the 20th century.
A car is parked in the driveway — Daddy’s home! — and Gabe and Lucky are out on the stoop. Alison gazes up from the book she reads to watch Maggie play with blocks, as Andy pulls his guitar out of the case. Beyond the white picket fence, the sun sets on the neighbor’s yellow house, and the catter of birds changes to night noise — crickets, katydids, and the frog sing about love.
Out in the shed, Pa turns on the light and runs the power saw, as a couple of towels left on the clothesline outside start to gather dust. The teenagers step out on the back porch, no where to go and not particularly dressed. Shelly and Dad head to the library and fill an ponyskin sack with books and dvds.
Intimate Portraits by Daniel Finaldi is on view at the Nassau Club, 6 Mercer St., Princeton, through Nov. 28.
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