Saturday, April 27, 2013

Morning Shadows in Old Concord

   


                             I painted last weekend at Farragut Art in the Park in Farragut Tennessee.  I painted a house in Concord neighborhood because I wanted to work on shadows (of course!) but also needed to include a dogwood tree just because I thought it was a good way to celebrate the weekend's theme.

Last Leaves





                              The leaves are always changing in the different elevations around here.  They fall off the trees first  on the top of the mountain in the fall, and they bud out green at the bottom of the mountain first in the spring, so it makes for some fun contrast to paint.  

Early Spring Road Shadows



                          More leaves budding out.  More green.  Lots of buttercups.  And always luminous shadows to be captured.

River Reflections



Another painting of more subdued colors in the earliest days of spring.  The only green on the trees was from the weeping willows.


                   

Saturday at the Barn


This painting won  an award at the Scenic City Paintout.  I was drawn to the forsythia in it's last blooming days against the dark interior of the barn.  While I was painting, the green truck drove up and parked so I hid it in the shadows.

Late Winter Afternoon


                              I love when all the leaves are gone.  The cliffs near the mountaintops stand out with their afternoon shadows.  It was a balmy afternoon when I painted this property in the Tennessee River Gorge.  When the weather cooperates, one can grab a calm afternoon of warm light.

Waiting for Warm



It is always a challenge to get cool and warm colors correctly placed.  The snow scene was a fun puzzle to work out.  The light rose cool in the morning and so  the shadows had to be painted as warm.  I think it worked well.   This painting gives the feeling that you can't wait for the sun to come up and start warming things up.   

View Out the Front



                  It was a cloudy afternoon when we painted in north Georgia.  We went to find newborn calves as our models, but they weren't anywhere to be seen.  Instead, I painted three paint horses in the front pasture.  The sun came out for about five minutes and I quickly worked on the light on the backs of the grazing animals.