Weathered Elm
‘Weather Elm’. Oil on gessoed card, 8″ x 6″
The day previous to my painting this scene, the evening sun glowed a warm orange and cast dreamy long shadows across the freshly mown grass, which lay in rows ready to be bailed for hay. I returned the next evening (yesterday), to try and capture something of what I felt in the moment.
The light was a little flatter on my return, and the shadows less defined. Occasional golden beams pushed through, and fleetingly lit up the bleached bark of the tree. I chased this effect a little and rushed to capture the ochre glow that bounced from it. Sophie sat close by to me throughout my painting, peacefully looking out over the meadow, gently protective of me as the occasional walker passed by.
When I got home, I couldn’t be bothered to clean up properly, so I wrapped up my brushes and put them in the freezer to stop them from drying out overnight. I hadn’t tried this before, but it worked. I remembered them this afternoon, and they duly cleaned up perfectly well. It’s something I will remember for future evening painting, as it’s a chore that sits in the back of my mind as the day wears on, and collapsing on the sofa seems further and further away.
This evening it rained, and when we walked the dogs through the meadow, the still green grass had been collected and bailed. I’m glad I didn’t procrastinate on the scene. I would have missed it.
Keep going like this and you are going to need a straw hat, Laura Ashley dress and scones to eat whilst you paint!!!
Lovely painting, very evocative and I can see the HD brush strokes coming out.
By the way I don’t know how I found this post or how I ended up on Google so may not come across a reply!
I’ve been doing more and more still lives as a commercial line. They’re a bit graphic but hey folks are buying some of them.
M
Hey Mike!!!
Great to hear from you. I like the idea of the Laura Ashley dress and scones. Mostly I look like I got dressed in the dark… worse when I go out painting. I think I’ve got some photos of me actually painting this. If I can find them, I’ll put them online to illustrate.
I’ve seen your still life paintings on Facebook. I think they’re fantastic and I’m sure they’ll go very well for you commercially. Do you enjoy the challenge of producing them? I think there’s something very rewarding about the pieces that are completed in a day or two (when they go well). Sometimes a quick win can go a long way towards keeping motivation up.
By the way… just last week I sold the painting of the trout you caught. Its new home is in New Orleans! I’m really happy about it because it’s gone to a good home where the new owner (who is a trout fishing fanatic) really loves it.