Thursday, May 17, 2018

The "small farm"was run from the late 1980s through 2016 or 2017 by Barbara and Dwight Sipler (see http://small-farm.org).  Recently the farm was undertaken by Elena and Karl (http://www.small-farm.com) who considerately left the original website in place.

I was walking in the area when I noticed the old barn and thought it would make an interesting composition.  I was unable to contact Karl or Elena directly, so I showed up hopefully with my canvas, 24 by 30 inches long.

They were very nice, and said I could paint on the property.  At Karl's suggestion I chose a spot on the lower road, facing the barn from the east and slightly below.

I painted the barn first, with large sized brushes.  The ell on the side of the barn does not recede into space, despite its sloped roof - an optical effect I wanted to avoid by increasing shadows under the eaves.  Colors were burnt umber, cobalt blue, cadmium lemon yellow,  titanium white, and viridian green.  By five o'clock the sky had clouded over and it was cool ;  Karl was driving a tractor with cement blocks weighing down the tool in back so that it dug into the earth.  I left quietly.

Here is the result.

After filling in the greenery, and adjusting, the  finished painting is below.