Can't Get it Out of My Mind

This is a pasture I pass often. Why this one rusty old car sits in there under the trees all by itself, I don't know. It isn't anywhere near a barn or garage.

I've painted this scene before, but it just won't go out of my mind. When I saw it with a halo of sunlight sparkling around, it insisted on getting painted again.

It's the light that changes things.

Untitled, at this time. 16x20 $600 oil on board

detail

Are Any Colors Ordinary?

Rolling Twilight

Yes, winter is beautiful to me. The shadows are long all through the day. I've done a study of a lovely sunset that is making it's way to a full sized painting. This is one scene I want to do justice.

Here's the palette I used. Ordinary colors. But really, are any colors ordinary?

White, cad yellow lemon, raw sienna, cadmium orange, permanent rose, magenta (Winsor Newton), ultramarine, burnt sienna, cobalt, thalo turquoise, viridian.

It's just magic to me that smears of paint can turn into something with harmony and beauty. As I usually say - it's all abstract!
"Rolling Twilight study", 7x14, oil on panel

Hanging Around the Barn

Tractor Parking 9x12, oil on wood panel

What is it about red barns? They seem to act like magnets. Sometimes, though, what's inside is intriguing. Or the view from the shelter of the warm, quiet, earthy barn calls to me. This is another scene from last weekend with the Alabama Plein Air Painters at the O Neal farm in Priceville.

Here is the start..............on the right is the midway stage

Plein Air (outdoor) Painting

Ole man Winter gave the Alabama Plein Air Painters a break over the weekend. Carol and Jack Oneal of Priceville hosted us at Springwood, their antebellum home and farm. They had everything you could want to paint, and what did we choose? Their laundry hanging out in the morning.!

Here are the results for the 2 days we spent there: 9x12, plein air, oil

The pond in the cow pasture. It was an "almost sunny" winter day. Hardly enough winter light to make strong shadows, but it brings out the lovely winter subtle colors. the backdrop of the old cedar trees sets everything off. 9x12, oil , plein air

You saw this one on yesterday's blog. you can tell I like trees. Winter gives us time to appreciate their structural beauty. 12x9, plein air, oil

The O Neals have at least 2 log structures, and several red barns. This is the unfinished view from close to the house towards the old horse barn. Perhaps this log stucture on the right was a chicken coop???

What a wonderful time we had. This was a special treat, because I can find inspiration anywhere, but the O Neals' farm just made it so easy.

12x16 plein air, oil

Small Improvements

When we left the second hunt scene painting, anyone could see the remains of whacky drawing. Some modifications may have improved it. It's a lesson for me in maintaining the excitement of the day the foxhunters started out. Let's see the latest stage........

Dog goes in, dog goes out, rider gets proportion improvements

20x24, linen canvas

Today the Alabama Plein Air Painters visited Decatur, and we were hosted by the wonderful farm of Carol and Jack O Neal in Priceville. Painting outdoors has its challenges, but today the February weather was cooperating. We had a beautiful white ante bellum house, log cabins, red barns, cows, and a pond to choose for painting. I turned to one of the oldest trees on the property - an old cedar.

Yes, winter has its beauty.

And we get to paint there again tomorrow!

12x9, oil on wood panel

Not too much

Sometimes it's better to stop in the painting process, rather than let the canvas fall of its' own weight. One of my notable teachers passed along this advice, saying a picture can only hold "so much". We can't have the waterfall, the deer, the sunset, the sunrise, the desert, the cabin in the woods, the mansion., angels............all in the same painting. Leaving off some of the pretty stuff is often hard. Here is the progress on the second in the foxhunting series: funny looking dogs, skimpy background, horse with dubious proportions......

The next step- work on the distance:

Then work on another hound and the mid distance, still the rider has whacky proportions......

Added a dog on the right, the dog on the left seems to be disappering.

The color of the winter stubble in the mid distance is beginning to capture the effect of early morning winter sun.

The white horse gets some definition.....

Where I stopped :

Still a ghostly hound in the foreground, and one looks more deer sized. The left hound is gone - I wonder if he will get a replacement to balance the composition?.. That rider's hat is still odd looking.

So here is where the "not too much" decisions begin. How to keep the energy and sparkle while making adjustments....hmmmmmm

http://robinrobertsart.com/

Wish I was galloping away

..........like these foxhunters.

As I said before, painting is double the fun. Here is today's phase of the hunt scene. Still shaping up, still a long way from the finish.

18x24, oil on canvas

compare with yesterday:

I like a challenge

....... detail at beginning of hunt scene......

There is a joke among painters. And I ask it myself occaisionaly. People will ask how long it takes to finish a painting, and the answer is something like " 35 years, 11 days and 9 hours".

While driving to meet my painting friends yesterday, I accidently came upon the beginning of a foxhunt. Since horses are one of my favorite things, I turned the car around to take photos. I probably snapped 80 in 15 minutes.
I was so excited to join my painting friends and select one of the photos to make into a painting. I made a rapid decision and selected a scene featuring the wonderful winter landscape as the riders made their start following the huntsman and hounds. It was a lovely morning after a rain that made the red dirt of the cotton field stand out, crossed by thin bright morning light through the trees.

Well, that was how it looked. Now getting there in paint is another matter. My usual practice is to work alla prima into wet paint, using the freshness and excitement to take me as far as possible until I just get too tired. If I'm lucky, the painting is finished, or needs adjustments later. And if I'm lucky, I know the adjustments it needs.

This is as far as I could take it before stopping to drive back home. I was really tired. Every brushstroke is a decision, as I tell students. So that was all my little brain could handle. I misjudged what it will take to finish the painting. But I do like a challenge, and I'm still excited about the subject, and expect a series will come from the photos. It would have been nice to paint on location at the hunt. Too much going on......don't want to miss a single gesture.

So to answer the question "how long" - some are finished in an hour, some take days. Do you count the contemplation time where answers form? Do you count the planning stage? And there are many different approaches to painting that change the equation.

Check back to see the finish for this one. Title suggestions?

This one is 18x24, oil, of course