Clouds and Showers

Showers of Gold, 6 x 8" oil on linen

I did this little plein air painting on the evening of August 11, 2011.
I love these flowers. They're a little past their peak now, but still so bright and unruly. I've been told my great-grandma grew these flowers, and have always heard them called "Showers-of-Gold". They grow tall and are prone to blowing over. I happen to know that they make a great hiding place if one wants to eat doughnuts undisturbed.

In other paint-news, I've been studying the clouds.

July Plein Air "Snapshots"

I didn't do much studio painting this past month. There were so many hot and humid days when, even with fans blowing, an upstairs room in an un-airconditioned farmhouse wasn't a very inviting place in which to work.

So I packed my paints and headed out, hoping for a wind to cool the air and give the gnats and mosquitoes a run for their money.

I'm doing a lot of farm paintings this summer. Change is coming, and I want to capture this place, and tell a tiny bit of its story in my own way.

These are my "snapshots" of July.

July 3, 2011- In the orchard, view looking uphill from the woods, evening, long shadows, mosquitoes very hungry.
6 x 6" oil on linen canvas.

Available
July 5, 2011- Cut hay, needed to be raked, rain to the north, interesting clouds to the east, early afternoon, intense sun, burnt artist.
6 x 6" oil on linen canvas.

Available
July 7, 2011- Wagon full of bales waiting to be stored away for the winter, weathered red barn, afternoon sunshine, cool shade, vicious gnats.
6 x 6" oil on linen canvas.

Available
July 17, 2011- Old elevator in overgrown grass and weeds, evening, looking south, thunder and rain to the north, got a little wet.
6 x 8" oil on linen canvas.

July 18, 2011- Evening, so HOT, thunderhead to the northeast, constantly changing, light fading.
8 x 6" oil on linen canvas.

Sold
July 26, 2011- In the hayloft above the barn, old beautiful wood, lines and angles, dust, cobwebs, smell of new hay, sun shines through the cracks in the wall, bales thrown off in a hurry will be stacked later, early evening.
8 x 6" oil on linen canvas.

Available
July 27, 2011- New roundbales, rainy day, air fresh and clean, evening, hills across the valley are hazy blue, facing southwest, umbrella much used.
6 x 8" oil on linen canvas.

For riches are not for ever:
and doth the crown endure to every generation?
The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. -Proverbs 27:24-25