What an artist sees from their studio windows and doorways no doubt influences their work, and James David Smillie is certainly known for his carefully rendered, lush portrayals of rural landscapes, much like what he has depicted in “From My Studio Door.” A passage through a wood is composed almost as a portal into another world. What lies beyond the shadowed trees is an intriguing mystery.
Of note in this piece is how Smillie has rendered the background tone, employing soft, layered strokes of gray as from a watercolor brush, lending a dappled effect to the image. In the upper left, beneath his signature, he’s written simply “Etched from nature.” Brucia Witthoft's catalogue raisonné states: "...'From My Studio Door' was drawn first on paper, from a spot near the privy outside Smillie's Montrose house."