We found this beautiful old brick house with an unique bell on the kitchen wing that was used to let the farmers know supper was on the table. This place is preserved in a park where we would take our grandson for walks and after passing by it two or three times it finally caught my eye.
What I'm aiming for here is to have a white picket fence just behind the sidewalk and some tree branches in the upper left sky to brake up that large blue mass. The shadows on the house need some adjusting. I need to determine where the sun is and cast the shadows accordingly.
For me everything starts with the sky and this sky turned out just like I wanted it to on the first try. That's half the battle over with right there. You can see the progression, sky, roof, brick. Next will be the windows, shadows cast by the sun, then the trees on the horizon so the house doesn't float in mid air like you see it know.
Several times my wife and I have driven up to Hendersonville, NC to visit the Carl Sandburg Historic Home. It's a great place to visit and sit and draw. Mrs. Sandburg raised prize winning goats that were known around the country for the amount of milk they produced and there are still several dozen goats around the barns to this day. This painting started out to be a summer day but the sky seemed to lend itself to a winter scene and that's where it ended up.
The sky is complete and the first layer of paint is down on the barns but there is a lot to go yet. The roof''s, green/tan grasses in the foreground, windows and doors in the barn all have to be put in. In this painting the sky had three starts and was moments from the trash can before it settled down and became what you see here. Original it was very dark, like storm clouds with white billowy clouds contrasted against it. Believe me, this looks better.
Every young boy growing up on the farm wanted to get the chores done before dark but in the winter months that was almost impossible because the sun set so early. But some evenings like the one in this painting were almost enjoyable as the snow lightly fell just at dusk.