Sometimes I paint a subject several times in an attempt to improve my painting skills. If the subject is interesting, I try to find a way to improve the composition in the subsequent paintings. Maybe I can sharpen the center of interest or move things around to make the painting more balanced. As I paint the subject a second or third time, I feel more confident in my choice of colors and I try to improve my brush work, especially by creating soft edges and blended colors. Although subsequent paintings aren’t necessarily better, I think I learn something through the series of paintings.
I first painted this farm near Kingston on location, and since then I’ve taken several more stabs at it to improve my painting. See what you think.
My original plein air painting, 11 x 15 inches. A little roughMy first studio version of the plein air painting. You can see how I changed the composition by omitting the sheds to the left. 11 x 15 inches.A second studio version, 11 x 15 inches. I like the crisp edges of the barn that draw the eye to it as the center of interest, but the background line of trees is too sharp. Also I feel there’s too great a contrast between the dark green pasture and the bright sky. The pasture should be lighter, or the sky should be darker.I made this small painting for our annual Christmas painting exchange at Poulsbo Artists League. 5 x 7 inches. I like the softness of the barn, the pasture, and the background trees that melt into the clouds, but that line of dark trees going down to the right needs to have a softer outline. My latest version. 7 x 11 inches. I like the softness of the barn, the cows, and the background trees, but, again, that line of trees going down to the right is too hard-edged.
Thanks, Warren! I’ve come to love this subject with the classic old barn, the big fir tree, and the sloping pasture with the cows.
IRENE Reinhold
I like the last one the best. The hard edge on the right side trees didn’t bother me.It feels like a safe surround for what may lie behind.I also like the darker foreground grasses making it look like a world to itself.
Thanks, Irene. I like the last one, too. I appreciate your comments on the trees on the right side. I hadn’t thought of them as a “safe surround,” but that’s how they really function in this painting.
Nancy E. Gill
Hi Bill! It was helpful to hear your thoughts on these. Our painting styles and values are very different! So–I am wondering what draws you to the trees as you look at them, and paint them. I also wonder how your painting process MOVES, how the image and focus and even choice and sequence of colors, etc. evolve. It would be neat to watch! (Do you ever have “watchers” there when you are painting???)
In “real life,” I am drawn to the trees in western WA–when I’m walking the highway, when I’m hiking–and even driving. never have anybody else in the car. I always feel as if I am alone in the natural world, with sky, earth, trees, water, weather, etc. It’s very jolting, to me, if I see a deer, or any other creature anywhere except on my own property or on our little dirt and gravel road up here on the hillside. (Cars are very rare here, and even other walkers are rare. I am used to that–after 12 1/2 years in this house. But I don’t draw or paint what I see here. I have taken hundreds of photographs, though, sort of capturing moments.
I am very interested in how you might describe YOUR relationship with the natural world!
Practice does make perfect, but you’ve really nailed this one.
Thanks, Warren! I’ve come to love this subject with the classic old barn, the big fir tree, and the sloping pasture with the cows.
I like the last one the best. The hard edge on the right side trees didn’t bother me.It feels like a safe surround for what may lie behind.I also like the darker foreground grasses making it look like a world to itself.
Thanks, Irene. I like the last one, too. I appreciate your comments on the trees on the right side. I hadn’t thought of them as a “safe surround,” but that’s how they really function in this painting.
Hi Bill! It was helpful to hear your thoughts on these. Our painting styles and values are very different! So–I am wondering what draws you to the trees as you look at them, and paint them. I also wonder how your painting process MOVES, how the image and focus and even choice and sequence of colors, etc. evolve. It would be neat to watch! (Do you ever have “watchers” there when you are painting???)
In “real life,” I am drawn to the trees in western WA–when I’m walking the highway, when I’m hiking–and even driving. never have anybody else in the car. I always feel as if I am alone in the natural world, with sky, earth, trees, water, weather, etc. It’s very jolting, to me, if I see a deer, or any other creature anywhere except on my own property or on our little dirt and gravel road up here on the hillside. (Cars are very rare here, and even other walkers are rare. I am used to that–after 12 1/2 years in this house. But I don’t draw or paint what I see here. I have taken hundreds of photographs, though, sort of capturing moments.
I am very interested in how you might describe YOUR relationship with the natural world!