Fadeout

Fadeout   oil/canvas   20 x 30 x 1.5

 

Scene:   A typical drive back from Columbus on 1-77 North

Task:  Photograph as many barn scenes as possible from my passenger seat in my moving vehicle

I have never had luck with this before, but current technology allowed me to zoom in on the scenes most satisfactorily.  Barns have really never been my thing...nor landscapes, for that matter.  But....I am a believer in pushing myself.  This particular scene really stuck my fancy with the barn  disappearing into the horizon in the grayness of the day.  I finished the work to my almost-satisfaction but the scene did not allow this painting to be read at any distance.  And so I added a slight color temperature shift at the top of the roof.  That seemed to do it for me.

And as for barns?  Why do we enjoy them so much?  I am not sure, but the simplicity of the shapes, and of the scenes, keep us in touch with our primitive agricultural roots.  Enough said

Maybe another barn next year?.

Picture Perfect? - May on Howe Road

May - Howe Road watercolor 19.5 x 13 ...and I am so not into picture perfect. If ever there was a painting that did not represent who I am as an artist, this is it. Done as a painting class landscape challenge, it represents the dichotomy of painting for class instruction versus painting for myself. This is a difficult situation. While there are seasoned artists in my classes who understand my processes and my desires to alter reality, there are also "newbies" who are just learning to put brush to paper or canvas. Most of the time, I can bridge this gap within. But this time not so much. I have never enjoyed sweet landscapes....blue sky, green trees and red barns. Oh, I so prefer the expressionism of Wolf Kahn! Watercolor portraits with strands of hair that look like wet noodles grate on my nerves. Romantic oil paintings, done in this real time, that seem to glorify the past (barefooted young maidens fetching water from the well while wearing peasant blouses and headscarves) make me tense. And so....this angst....urging me onwards to grow as an artist. A paradigm shift. I am ready.