I think because the winter was especially long this year, the locals seem to be stoked to celebrate the summer solstice tonight. However, as I type this we are in the middle of an intense thunderstorm with hurricane force winds (I'm not exaggerating) and horizontal rain. Everything is rattling and shaking and the dogs are stressed-out. My husband went out for a photo club barn tour, somehow I think they are hunkered down somewhere by now. You can tell when you're in for a good blow because the deer and critters find shelter early. The day started out lovely though and maybe it was appropriate that I was painting on Hurricane Creek Road. The canyon visible in my painting is the Hurricane Creek drainage. If I had painted this view yesterday, a full moon would have been setting in the saddle of the snowcaps at this time of morning. I had my eye on this scene for a couple of days, I was intrigued by the opposing triangles of the barn and the canyon. It seemed like a great exercise in visual weight balancing, which is something I particularly enjoy. If I had more value separation between the lit masses on the trees and the lit area of the mountain behind, it would work much better. When I finished this little study at 6am, I turned around to find that I was painting the only remaining blue sky as the clouds were quietly creeping in.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Summer Solstice
I think because the winter was especially long this year, the locals seem to be stoked to celebrate the summer solstice tonight. However, as I type this we are in the middle of an intense thunderstorm with hurricane force winds (I'm not exaggerating) and horizontal rain. Everything is rattling and shaking and the dogs are stressed-out. My husband went out for a photo club barn tour, somehow I think they are hunkered down somewhere by now. You can tell when you're in for a good blow because the deer and critters find shelter early. The day started out lovely though and maybe it was appropriate that I was painting on Hurricane Creek Road. The canyon visible in my painting is the Hurricane Creek drainage. If I had painted this view yesterday, a full moon would have been setting in the saddle of the snowcaps at this time of morning. I had my eye on this scene for a couple of days, I was intrigued by the opposing triangles of the barn and the canyon. It seemed like a great exercise in visual weight balancing, which is something I particularly enjoy. If I had more value separation between the lit masses on the trees and the lit area of the mountain behind, it would work much better. When I finished this little study at 6am, I turned around to find that I was painting the only remaining blue sky as the clouds were quietly creeping in.
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3 comments:
nice painting, Sharon! I can't believe how much you've painted already, it's looking real good!
nice painting, Sharon! I can't believe how much you've painted already, it's looking real good!
Nice range of the warm, morning light coloring the world in this one. I agree about separating the trees from the mountain more. It's one of those issues to consider at the moment. Is there a greater separation than what I'm painting, or should I push it back to get a more decisive break between spaces? I like the use of the foreground shadow. You could be a bit bolder on the architectural forms in terms of brushwork.
Mountain has an 'outlined' quality due to the consistent dark rock profile above the snow. It's probably nature getting away with murder yet again, but you might consider varying the widths of that zone to lessen that effect next time you run into it.
It is great to see all these paintings pouring out of you.
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