Mrs. B.'s Yellow House, November

Pastel on self-sanded Arches, 16x20 (Revision, 2015 12 14)

When I first saw this house on a gravel road not far from Harlan, Iowa, I knew I had to paint it.  The house is such a brilliant yellow and sits alone on the corner of country roads.  The November fields were already bare, but the golden and rust of the harvest still remained.  In the mid-morning sun, the long shadows of late fall paint a pattern on the lawn and across the road.

After looking at the 16x20 version for a few days, I decided to crop the painting to 8x20.  This version includes all the important information ans adds the feeling of width and space that I wanted.  The part of the painting I worked the longest and hardest on is the foreground which I could never feel was right.  It seemed to dominate rather than support the image of the house.
 

Pastel on self-sanded Arches, 16x20 (Original Version)

This is the original version - more true to the photograph but "missing something."

 Design Change

Redoing the design with a black and white print and a scissors - removing the bridge and the back ground to do some radical changes to the background.

I dropped the horizon and roughed in the plan for the broad fields and low hill in the background - will work out details of the road and perspective later.

Hunting in the Tall Grass

Pastel on Self-sanded Arches, 15x11

In the morning, the views across the marsh to the line of pine and cedar trees are always full of mystery and contrast.

The summer is coming and the colors are turning from reds and brown to green and gold. The cedar trees provide the solid, deep shadows and the various kinds of marsh grass throw in the color. The pine trees stand above oaks, cedars, and underbrush as “tree herders” watching over their ragged and tangled charges.

June 2, 2013, I added the egret and changed the name. At low tide, the egrets hunt small fish and crabs in the few puddles that remain of the tide, and they hunt lizards in the tall grass. The original painting was done en plein air at Castaway Island Preserve, Jacksonville and submitted under the title "Ragged Marsh," but by adding the egret, I reclassified this as a studio piece.

"Sunlight on Center Stage"

Pastel on Sanded Arches - 21.5x14.5

Every now and then a painting starts as one subject and "morphs" into something entirely different.  I assembled the composition for this piece from several photos and previous paintings of the salt marsh.  What I originally envisioned was an emphasis on pine trees across the marsh, but as I worked on the lighting and values, the cord grass took center stage.  I believe this was an exercise in values and color that really stretched my experience and imagination.

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