I tried this for a 3 color challenge for Daily Paintworks. I used blue, yellow and red. It really was a challenge for me and I so wanted to throw in some other colors or even more shades of the three I chose. You could also use white and black and I did use white but not black. I like it better after coming back to it. There is a lot of texture. It is a grouping of barns near where I live A couple of years ago they painted the traditional red barn a deep yellow. Actually it is more of an ochre color but I chose cad. yellow light, so it is a brighter tone than the real barn. I love that you can make up your own world when painting and sincee we can't compete with the real one, we might as well!
Nature plays out her drama in vivid colors in this early fall foliage pageant. I was going to call it "Dressed In Red" but really this is one of those perfectly staged scenes put together by naturally occurring elements plus a few chairs!
I called this one "Lost and Found" because it is another resurrected painting from my box of failures. I do think that failures or wipe-outs are good educational tools but it is also fun when I can salvage them. I originally painted this plein air but it didn't have any punch which was so disappointing because it was such a lovely place to paint on a cool, but sunny day. This has a nice play of tight and loose which is nice. I am not very good at painting architectural features accurately and also with a fresh looseness mainly because I can't draw a straight line. Have you ever heard that phrase?
I decided I needed to thin out my loser box. That is where I put paintings that just aren't right and make me uncomfortable. Using a razor blade I scraped off edges of the brushwork that showed. I did this instead of sanding to reduce dust, and breathing toxic chemicals. Then I painted a solid color over them. A few of the paintings I decided had good enough starts to try and resurrect them, and this was one. Originally I painted it plein air (outside on the spot) but I finished it in the studio letting the painting tell me what to do, instead of looking at a reference photo. I am pretty happy actually with the results. It is a small church in a beautiful and picturesque town in southern Vermont. It is for sale by auction on Daily Paintworks. Click to bid on the button under the image.
