Monday, June 25, 2007

Yellow Barn - Quail Roost Farm


Yellow Barn - Quail Roost Farm
Originally uploaded by linfrye
Fortified by a morning of sketching (and the kindness of the plein air group!), I decided to tackle 'the barn'! This historic unusual-color-of-yellow barn, I understand, was on the original farm and stood as the farm's landmark. I found a bit of shade under a single tree (the sun had come out by then, but was still hiding periodically behind clouds), and so I perched myself on a top of a knoll and decided to see what I could do in an hour. HA!

During lunch I was bemoaning my tendency to overwork my washes as I fussed and fussed to keep 'perfecting' what I had done. So one of the artists challenged me to an hour of work -- I took her up on it.

I sat beneath the the tree and gazed at this beautiful barn. I could see other artists around the barn also trying to capture it on paper. I was using 140# coldpress watercolor paper (Canson I believe) in a spiral field book with hard covers, which worked very well for me.

I put my feet up on my alternative chair and relaxed under the tree's shade. I lost myself in lines and did my best to use my eyes as I remembered the principles of perspective I was struggling with all week. After about 50 minuites when I thought my sketch was about done, I realized that the top of my roof should be a bit lower on the left corner -- I tried to amend, but sticking to my hour, I didn't adjust it enough. But I did realize my mistake .. yeah -- progress in wee steps! LOL

After an hour, Nancy and Harley came by reminding me of my time limit -- and we both laughed! She 'gave' me another bit of time to finish the sketch ... and this time, I did!

The barn was painted a most unusual color yellow -- not bright, not dull -- add to that that the barn was in shadow -- and I had a whale of a time trying to get my color close to the original. I wound up using New Gamboge, glazed with Winsor Violet and then glazed with Ind. Blue ... it's mighty close.

I stopped painting and fussing after about 40 minutes, and made minor adjustments at home -- like the edge of the roof (not adjusted enough) on the side by the trees that I covered with leaves ...and left the rest as learning lessons.

In all, I was quite pleased at not overworking the drawing, learning again about perspective, and learning too how important drawing is to a project. I was mighty glad I practiced barns before I tried this plein air! LOL

BTW, I was asked about the horses. There really weren't that many to be seen. The stables and pastures were off-limits, and most of the horses were not in view most of the day. A few riders went by, but for the most part, we all focused on the scenery sans horses.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable event ---!!!

11 comments:

Tami said...

This came out VERY NICE! Hope you took lots of pictures so you can work form those...

Teri said...

Oh Lin, this is wonderful!!
So pastoral with such lovely colors. But the time challenge and fun you had was also great!

Sandy said...

GREAT sketches Lin - just fabulous!

Margaret McCarthy Hunt said...

OOHHHH I Like this one alot...its just lovely!

Lynn said...

I think this is really well done, especially the light and shadows on the roof. I like it a lot.

Terri said...

I love the light in this one. Your paintings lately have been wonderful Lin. I've really enjoyed seeing them.

Lindsay said...

GREAT JOB!!!!! I'm so impressed you did this plein air.

Karen Sandstrom said...

Excellent job on the barn, Lin. Your time is really well-spent here, don't you think? Sounds glorious.

Nancy said...

Lin, this is wonderful. I love the colors.

caseytoussaint said...

Lin! What a great job - and so much detail. I'll bet you're proud of this one.

Africantapestry and Myfrenchkitchen said...

This is lovely Lin..you can feel so great about it! It looks tranquil and inviting...I
d love to be there.
Ronell