The first time I drove past this barn I knew I wanted to paint it. I love the way it sits alone in the landscape, both imposing and lonely at the same time. And in the afternoon sun it just glows, especially against a typical brooding Rochester sky. I tried to capture those feelings in the painting, and thought I had succeeded...but this was the one painting of mine that was rejected from our recent show. Anyway, it was an interesting experiment in the use of acrylics...I'd like to develop a level of comfort with them so that I can use acrylics when traveling, to avoid having to deal with wet oil paintings. We'll see how that goes.
The owners are talking about taking it down. Another piece of history soon to be gone! Admittedly, it is in bad shape - the roof was heavily damaged by fire (not evident in the painting, but you can see through large areas of the roof), and the entire structure leans severly downwind - it's hard to believe, but look at this photo showing the end-on view!
Otherwise...I have been painting almost every day (not Sunday, for the most part). Doing a lot of small "studies" of objects (roses, fruit, that kind of thing). Also doing figure painting one day a week. Also working on the occasional plein air painting. I am about to start a couple of larger studio paintings, and will be posting them as they develop.
