Park City Barn 7×14

This is a painting I did a few weeks ago using a photograph reference.  This barn is in Park City, UT;  I took the photo when we were there last summer.  It is a bit monocromatic; in the future I would like to work more color into my grays and neutrals.

It has been almost two weeks since I last painted and it actually feels pretty good.  I think I was beginning to develop a bit of an overuse injury, with the main symptom being that I was becoming increasingly concerned about the end product, and feeling fatigued and frustrated by the process.  I want to apply the less is more approach not only to the construction of an individual painting, but to my painting practice as a whole.  Rather than churning out the paintings with hopes of improvement and recognition, I think it's time to slow down and take a more holistic and sustainable approach.

Thanks for viewing!

Tall Trees 6×9 and Haystack 6×9

I was able to pursue my new approach to painting during my last two plein air outings.  This new approach of scouting sites and making preliminary sketches was helpful.  As I predicted it gave me direction and helped me relax, kind of.  As I was painting the first of these two paintings (the tall trees) I was consistently distracted be the dramatic scene of cumulonimbus clouds unfolding directly behind me, every time I turned around they were stretching higher into the sky.  This scene of clouds was what I was immediately drawn to, but I stayed the course and stuck with my original plan.  Who knows, had I abandoned the original mission and instead followed my emotions maybe the painting would have been that much better.  It seems obvious to me know that painting is an act of balancing the forces of emotion and intellect.

Here are both the sketches and the paintings.

On a side note, my family and I are moving to St. Paul, MN at the end of this month.  I imagine the painting to slow down as the moving process begins.

Thanks for viewing!