Spring is finished!
I am so happy that Spring is basically complete, and it has a great presence.
I still need to finish painting the sides and adding hardware and varnish, and I might add a couple little touches as I work on the other paintings. It has a wonderful glowing effect in my studio because of the warm pink sky and the sky color reflected in some spots on the cows and grass… One of the things I changed since my last photo update was to make a subtle S shape in the grass leading in from the foreground cows to the midground cows (and of course really finessed the cows and trees).
Now I’m preparing for a big Summer painting. Part of a commissioned painting is the communication that happens before paint goes on canvas. That communication can be in the form of sketches going back and forth a few times, until I feel 100% sure I know what the client desires. Below is the photoshop sketch that shows the movement and feeling of the next painting:
For the actual painting I needed source photos of a beautiful red barn, so I spent Friday afternoon driving around the area North of Brookings. It was so breathtaking out there! The sun was shining and birds were playing everywhere. After driving around for a while and stopping some locals that were driving a 4 wheeler to ask for red barn locations, I found a couple beautiful farms off the beaten path. Yesterday I narrowed my source photos down to 4 great ones.
I needed to loosen up after painting so large, so yesterday I chose one of the four photos for a smaller “whatever I want to paint” painting. I chose one with a dynamic tire-rut situation in the foreground and painted this 9 x 12 inch painting.
Besides loosening up, this helped me think through how red barns relate to all the other structures on a farm, and how to make the lighting work for the next painting in the series…
I love this painting! Hope you enjoy it.