Work in Progress for "Doing Chores"

There will be a farmer added to this scene who is heading to the barn to start chores before dark. On the farm there was always morning and evening chores and if you had dairy cows that meant milking too.

12-26-07 "Midwest Sunset II"

This is a full size painting of a small one I completed this past summer. I added a windmill to give a vertical against all the strong horizontal movement in this composition.

12-22-07 "Snow Tracks"

If you were not impressed with the previous blog hopefully this photo proves to you the painting is not a disaster. The idea is that there is a well worn drive out to the barn as the farmer goes back and forth from the house to the barn. I'm becoming more familiar with acrylics and using them in every painting (this one is about three-quarters acrylic).

Work in Progress for Snow Tracks

Seen here is the work in progress after an hour and a half, maybe one-third finished. This might be called the underpainting because all the detail and finish work is yet to be completed. It is December after all and that has put me in the mood for snow scenes.

12-14-07 "Snowfall on the Davis Farm"

This painting has the glow of twilight and snowfall that I was hoping to capture. Many a winter evening I saw scenes just like this one. Sometimes everything comes together (usually right after I'm ready to throw the whole thing in the trash) and the finished work surprises me. This is one one those moments. 16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Snowfall Study

Over the years I have sold 20 or 25 snowfall scenes. At one particular show I sold every one I brought but I haven't painted one in many years now. Just kind of got out of the grove and wanted to move on. This painting needs the details added in the barnboards, doors and windows painted in, and the snowflakes falling. I'll post the finished painting in a couple of days.

12-7-07 "Weathered Barns in Ohio"

Years ago this barn had a nice white wash but over the years it has become weathered and suffered from the elements. The painting has an acrylic sky and guache barns and foreground.

16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Study for Weathered Barns

Usually my barns are red but this was begged to be painted white and weathered by time. This scene is also from Ohio.

12-1-07 "Clint's Barn Revisited"

The barn has remained essentially the same without the corrections I talked about in the previous blog. This is a full size painting of the miniature that I finished this past summer but that's the purpose of the small ones. Each one was the prep work for a bigger painting that I plan on doing some time in the future.

This painting in not for sale.

Study for Clint's Barn III

Things are progressing on this project yet there are some changes and additions to make. The barn wood is too redish brown so I'm going to gray it down to make it look more weathered and I'll add more trees to the left of the barn than the small original had. Maybe I'll have this done in two or three days.

Study for Clint's Barn II

The painting that I'm presently working on will fit in an 18x24 frame, substantially larger than the work I've done all summer. In the photo you can see the 8x10 that I finished early this summer, it's the basis for the large one. The large painting is about 25% completed.

11-18-07 "Storm Moving In"

The sky in this finished painting turned out exceptionally good. The storm is moving in yet the sun is shining strong, one of those special moments before the storm.

"16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

11-12-07 "Rocky Mountains"

It's been a while scince I've finished a painting like this and it was fun to do so it was worth it. Trying to keep the mountains in the background gave me quite the challenge.

16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

11-10-07 "Chilly Day in Late October"

The mountain scene I was working had some obsticles to overcome so I put it off and went on to this fall farm scene. Most of my paintings for the last month have been for a 16x20 frame and require more time from start to finish. The small 5x7's are nice but have their limits in creativity.

16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com .

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Rocky Mountain Study

Sometimes a change is good. It's time to paint something different from the rural farm scenes that I've been painting all summer and fall. This mountain range will be framed by mature pines when I'm done.

10-30-07 "10 Above Zero in New York State"

I must be anticipating winter with these snowy landscapes I've been painting! This scene conveys the feeling of a real cold afternoon in the middle of January. 16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

10-23-07 "Winter on the Farm"

Much of the farming life is prepairing for a blanket of snow in the winter months that covers the fields where animals eat. The much needed hay is stored in the barns where it is usually nice and warm even though the snow blows outside.

16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

10-17-07 Winter Study

The heavy overcast of a winters day can feel cold and damp and that's what I tried to paint this week. There is a lot of blue reflecting from the sky that keeps the snow on the ground blue!

10-12-07 "Iowa Farm at Dusk"

Finally I've been able to capture what I want in an intense sunset and do it justice. Many an evening in the late summer or early fall there is a moment of time when the setting sun sets the horizen on fire.

16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Study for Iowa Farm at Dusk

In the top photo you can see the pencil outline of the farm buildings and trees before I painted the first layer. The second photo is a little dull but shows the underpainting before I finished putting the second and third washes on. I'm hoping the edges of the barn, house, and trees will have an orange glow to them as they reflect the setting sun.

10-4-07 "Barn Gable"

The gable of the barn seems so far up when your standing on the ground and by the end of the summer they used to be packed to the top with square bales of hay.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Study for Barn Gable

I'm trying to work out the bugs in this little painting and have it ready to post in a day or two. The barn itself is coming along fine, it's the sky that I'm worried about. I've gotten so far behind in just about everything that posting my progress seems to take the back seat.

9-23-07 "Carl Sandburg Farm"

The farm of the famous writer Carl Sandburg is located forty minutes from my home and is a beautiful drive into the Blue Ridge Mountains. While we visited this pasts spring I took several photo's and sketches and have painted the barns in several different scenes.

16x20" Original Watercolor

$225, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

9-13-07 "Washington Township Farm"

It was a warm spring day when I first saw this farm with the leaves just starting to bud out on the trees. It is really four barns all connected that have been well taken care of throughout the years.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Study for Washington, MI Farm

I discovered this farm when I drove my son to a nature park where he had entered an art contest. When we left that afternoon we pulled the car over and I sketched and shot photos till the kids begged to go to MacDonalds to get something to drink.

9-5-07 "Iowa One Room School House"

Finally I've completed this painting and am satisfied enough with it to leave it alone. When we were there the sun was shining bright and the old white clapboards were glistening in its light. I hope I was able to capture that here.

10x14" Original Watercolor

$100, free shipping

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9-2-07 Iowa School House Study III

This is yet another study of the same painting I've been working on all week. I can see the shadow side of the building needs to be a little darker, the windows need attention, and above all there needs to be a strong verticle going off the top of the painting. I've considered a light pole or tree limb but I think it's going to be a steeple or bell house. I don't normally feel the need for a verticle in my landscapes but this building is so dominant there is the need for it. I can't take another photo of the finished work untill my wife gets back with the camera from another one of her little trips across the country.

8-26-07 Study for Iowa School House II

Over the last couple of days I have been able to paint in some shadows, the clapboards, and work on the grass a little bit but most of my time has been spent playing with my little grandson who has been visiting with his mommy.

8-23-07 Study for Iowa School House

This painting is about half finished with all the clapboard detail, windows, and foreground to paint in yet. I'm not sure if the composition can stand alone or needs to go back to some thumbnail schetches to help it out.

8-18-07 "Eric Sloan Tribute"

SOLD

Eric Sloane was an amazing painter of farms and country life and author of several books on farm tools and living from years gone by. This Pennsylvania farm is much like something he would do.

I've been slowed down in my painting duties as my wife and I are busy refinishing the kitchen cabinet doors. This has resulted in only one post last week and this week.

4.5 x 8.5" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

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8-13-07 "Mount Vernon Barn"

This little brick barn is still in excellent shape on the Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia. It was a sunny, cool day when we were there with the sun almost overhead, hence the lack of shadows on the left side of the roof.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

8-7-07 "Indiana Wheat Field"

A lot of times when you're driving along a fence row takes the eye in and leads you to the focal point. I hope I was able to capture that in this painting.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

8-04-07 Study for Indiana Wheat Field

In this painting I wanted the sky to be the focal point by keeping the horizen low and a minimal of detail in the foreground.

7-30-07 "Blue Shudders"

While touring Heny Ford's Greenfield Village in Michigan this restored brick house couldn't be passed up.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

7-25-07 Study for Brick House

This painting is being done in Gouache, an opaque watercolor. It's much like acrylic paint but dries differently. There is going to be a tree and bushes to the right of the house and the white area in the upper left will finish out as leaves of a tree.

7-23-07 "Ohio Barn #1"

SOLD

While traveling through Ohio I found this barn standing alone, there was no house beside it. This white barn had lots of color reflecting off of its painted boards. I have noticed that different regions of the country have barns of different colors. Red, white, and black are the most popular.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

7-20-07 Study for Ohio Barn #1

This painting needs to be kept light and I'm working through the next step. Probably a white rail fence cutting across the foreground at an angle. The darker values have to be worked on yet to accent the light areas and I'll be done.

6-17-07 "Taylor Farm"

It was a challenge to seperate the trees in the background and distinguish one from the next. There was so much green in the painting that I almost scrapped the whole thing. My daughter Jessica may recognize this barn as it's not too far from her house. Thank's Jess for mentioning my blog in your blog www.thecoons.blogspot.com today, your topic (Alex) is way more interesting than what I've got going here.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

7-14-07 Study for Taylor farm

My next project captured my attention for the maze of white fencing that circled the barns. They aren't in the study pictured here but will be painted in the next step.

7-10-07 "Wildcat Road Farm"

This is my first post after a long vacation to see my family in Michigan and Ohio. Whenever possible I took photos and scketched farm scenes from one state to the next as we traveled across Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Each state is peppered with old barns and homesteads.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

6-28-07

I will not be posting for several days. I hope this brake gives me time to develop some new ideas and challenges.

6-26-07 "Sanilac Farm"

When I passed this farm after picking up my kids from a t-ball game I had to pull over and do a sketch from the road over the protests of my children. It was worth it!

6x9" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

6-22-07 "Midwest Sunset"

SOLD

One of the beauties of the earth is a August sunset viewed from a farm in the midwest as you look to the western horizen. Everything seems to glow with oranges and golds.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

6-20-07 "Clint's Barn"

This beautiful old barn is about fortyfive minutes from Columbus, OH and is now used for storage of hay and machinery. I really enjoyed using acrylic washes in the sky and foreground to really capture the mood of a winter day approaching dusk.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Study for Clint's Barn

This is the first acrylic painting that I've finished and decided it was good enough post.

6-16-07 "Coming Up the Lane"

SOLD

This barn seemed kind of lonely set back in the field by itself but sometimes that is all that remains of a farm. The house and other buildings are gone with time.

5x7" Original Watercolor
$75, free shipping
To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com
I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Sorry I haven't posted a painting all week, I've been busy with brick work on my house and now I've got camera problems. There is a painting ready to go and one on deck once my camera is brought online again. I'm planning a trip to Michigan and Indiana over the Independance Day week and will be traveling down country roads in persuit of farm scenes that are just right. The midwest states are the heart of a brand of farming that boomed in the US from 1890 - 1950.

6-10-07 "Iowa Round Barn"

SOLD

It was a beautiful sunny day when we visited this round barn in southern Iowa with my son and his wife.

5x7" Original Watercolor

$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.

Study for Round Barn

When visiting my son and his wife in southern Iowa they took me to see a round barn that was just outside their little town. I took several photo's and brought them back to the studio and now I'm finally ready to paint it.

6-6-07 "Winter Shadows"

I saw these two barns nearly once a week when our family would go for a drive to a little town to pick up feed for our animals. The winds and snow would blow across the field and plug in the farmers lane so he couldn't get to his barn.

5x7" Original Watercolor$75, free shipping

To purchase this painting, please email me at: sgibsonart@hotmail.com

I accept Money Orders or personal checks and ship to US only.