Red Barns

Red Barn, Green Grass 8x10 pastel, copyright 2012

A few weeks ago, this pastel was considered a failure.  Something about it just wasn't right.  It sat in the studio mocking me, daring to me to call it quits and give up.  I moved on, trying to ignore it while working on an oil, recovering from a cold and thinking about spring shows.  Today it was finally decided to put it away for good.  But maybe, with a little touch up here, a little cropping there, it would work.  Guess it's a good thing I gave it another chance.  The title, by the way, was suggested by my son.  Kids are always an excellent resource when you run out of ideas.

January Sunshine

Bank Barn, January Sun 16x12 pastel, copyright 2012

I've been thinking about tackling the challenge of plein air painting a lot lately, building up the courage to try it again.  My last few attempts have ended in frustration.  The most difficult thing for me is finding a focal point.  Using photographs is so much easier because I can crop and shift the frame around until it suits me.  And the light never changes in a photograph.

But the light and the colors aren't 100% accurate in photographs and subtleties can get lost.  So I decided to try it again yesterday, taking advantage of what was most likely the last unseasonably nice weather for awhile.  Our bank barn is a natural focal point and one very familiar to me.  In the warm afternoon sunshine I sat out on our driveway for a little over an hour and painted this pastel while fending off a cat that wanted to sleep on the pastels and a German shepherd mix that thinks she's a lap dog.

Working quickly is essential since the light is constantly changing, so I left out a lot of details like brush and stonework and focused on basic shapes, light and shadow.  By the time I finished the shadows had shifted and were creeping up the side of the barn.  I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out - the high contrast is something that probably would have been lost working from a photograph.  A few minor touch ups this morning finished it off, mostly just cleaning up the lines.  Now that I know that I can do it, I'll have to try again next time the sun shines.  Of course it may be awhile before that happens.

Third time's a charm

Early Morning Frost 12x9 pastel, copyright 2011

This one is from the same spot and the same sunrise as the previous two landscapes, but looking in the opposite direction.  Despite the resentment of this night owl for having to get up at this hour, it really is a magical time.  In particular I have a fascination with watching the shadows on the trees slowly slide down to the ground as the sun creeps over the edge of the hills behind our house.  Every clear morning it's the same, yet somehow different.  I've tried to capture that a bit of that idea here.  While the previous pastel was all about the light, this one became all about the mood.

As a historical aside, nearly two years ago I painted this same barn.  It amazes me how much progress I've made since then, and I get exciting thinking about how much better I can get.

The neighbors' barn, revisited

Just Up the Road, 16x20 pastel, copyright 2010

As some of you may recall, this past winter I painted a pastel of a barn about a mile from our house, a barn that I pass by almost every day.   It was in the Randolf County, Indiana annual show, but to be honest, I never felt it was as good as it could have been.  To me it seemed to be lacking in depth and vibrancy, and has been bothering me ever since I framed it.

One of the great things about pastels it that they are easily revised.  For some reason today felt like a good day to pull this one out of its frame and make it better.  I removed the tree on the left and decided to define the light and shadow better to give it more depth.  Having a well defined light direction is always a struggle for me, but when I finally recognize that's what's missing, I find the results much for satisfying.

Here is the original version for comparison.