Oil - Summer Light

Well, I finally finished the painting I showed a couple of weeks ago in it's almost finished state. I took it off the easel!!!! Signing it is the only thing left. Here it is -- Oil painting on a Diamondback Birch  Cradled Panel (with 2 inch sides). These boards are wonderful! I started from a photograph, but about half way through, I put the photograph away and just worked on what the painting needed.

The scene is from Georgia -- near Blue Ridge. I was in Blue Ridge one weekend , and had invited my friend, Elsie Dresch. It was not a very pretty weekend and so we decided to go driving around one day -- it was overcast so colors were good, but there were not scenes with light and shadow paths created by the sun. But, we have both said we have painted more paintings from those photos that day than any other day of photographing!

That was probably five years or more ago. I have used the location of this scene many, many times in paintings. There is a chicken house just to the right of the scene. There is also a small stream leading form the road, meandering through the pasture toward the chicken house, and then making its way toward this tree. The mountains in the distance are such a beautiful backdrop for the pasture and all the pastoral elements. I would say this might be the tenth painting at least -- if not more -- from this one piece of property.

I keep telling my students that painting the same scene in different light, different times of the year, and maybe even the same light and time of year is one way to learn your subject. You will always see differently each time you do the work. We have learned more, and we have changed ideas, and we might have even changed styles.

There is a challenge that went on just recently -- maybe even still going on -- to paint the same scene 100 times. The requirement is just to make it different each time. Theirs is a little different than what I did with this scene. They must use the same scene elements, but are free to change color schemes, surface, etc. Of course the elements -- such as a tree-- will never be exactly the same -- but the tree is still there. The shape is pretty close to the same each time. I would have liked to do this challenge, but was too busy to commit to it. But . . . I will be doing the challenge, but on my own time after the first of the year.

I hope you enjoy the painting above. I certainly enjoyed painting it!