A subject I often paint is houses, or bits of architectural detail of houses. But an abandoned house is something even more special to me.  While I am drawn to paint the interesting detail, the way the light reflects in a window or the way the shadow falls at a particular time of day, the thing that truly draws me in is that at some mysterious point in time, the last person walked out of this house, shut the door, walked away and no person has ever lived there again.  Why did that happen? What happened to cause this house to be abandoned?    No one lives there anymore.  There are no more celebrations, no births or deaths, no laughter, no tears, as there once was in this place.  For me, there is a sad poignancy to a house that has been left.  In time, it will crumble into the ground and disappear as well.  But there remains a spiritual quality to an abandoned house.  The people are gone, but they have left a part of themselves within its walls. The house tells us something of their stories.