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| Big Barn, 9x12, oil on linen panel |
Then I decided I could not post this image. In life it looked better - in a photograph - all I can say is ugh. Back to the easel it went. The first thing that I did, even though it was the clouds that I dislike so much, I pushed the mountain back a bit. I felt the color was too strong. Next, the trees on the right. The far right one especially reminded me too much of Charles E. Burchfield (his trees are very stylized). Which was a distraction to me. Still avoiding the sky, I did a few adjustments to the foreground. None of this took very long as the structure is in place and it is a small painting. It continues to look better to my eye. Then I decided to redo the barn; the value of it wasn't off per se, but it needed something. Finally, I had to face the clouds. I have been studying clouds, especially when they hang over the mountains. The bottoms of the clouds here really can get very dark. So the value of that dark blue wasn't the problem. Nor was it the color. I discovered it was the middle value that was the problem. That middle value was too light. And I had tried too hard to add pinks and yellows to it making the clouds look dirty.
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| Big Barn, 9x12, oil on panel |
Usually, I prefer to put the 'New! Improved!' image at the top of the page...today I decided to leave what was originally going to be the posted photo and text where they were. I have taken more time on this silly little painting than I do on some of my larger paintings. I just don't paint this small much anymore. It took 5 days of taking photos, taking it back to the easel before I am done with it.
I went out to paint in my garden yesterday on an 8x10 panel. It was pure torture..
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