April 11. A foggy morning, just after sunrise. The French words for the various types of fog and mist and haze are what we've named the 'br' words - brume, bruillard, bruine. I don't know which is which, really. But I love the look of it, with everything disappearing in the distance. This 'br' was gone in about half an hour. It seemed to call for soft-edges, thin paint, colours close in value.
This painting was actually done a few days ago. The thing that attracted me about the scene was the shadow of the tree, and its change in size in the tall grass - which is hay, actually. Now that I look at it again, I think the tree trunk has to be made narrower.
The trees suddenly have leaves, no longer those little teeny spring leaves but full sized ones. Everything is green! I had fun painting this one, working into the thickly gessoed ground, that I think gives a lively look to this little painting. This is a small painting - 12x12 cm (4x4 in).
Hay! It's amazing to me to see the first cutting of hay being done in April. Back in Massachusetts it wouldn't be ready until June and possibly later - and lucky if you get a second cutting. But yesterday - actually last night - the field across the street was cut, making a lovely pattern that just begged to be painted. I obliged. This was a fun one to paint as well. Although I worked on a very smooth canvas, I ended up with lots of paint slathered onto it. 
Oh, I just LOVE the hay painting. It's gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Good thing I did it that day, because everything changed so soon. This morning I did another, after the hay had been re-arranged into long, narrow piles, which will be swooped up into a truck today or tomorrow. This hay isn't baled; it's probably used for silage. What a great time I'm having painting here! This morning's painting needs some color changes and it's too wet to add them. So you'll maybe see it tomorrow.
ReplyDelete