Afternoon Light on Sterchi Barn


                                        It is hard to paint up close on a larger structure, but I couldn't
                                        back away from it.  I chose to see if instead I could paint all
                                         variations in color in the shadows.  It was really fun to do.

                                                                Sterchi Farm Barn


                       I went with my paint group yesterday to paint this old dairy barn on Chattanooga's newest leg of the Riverwalk.  It was a good thing we chose this venue because it is slated for demolition and was already in the process of being fenced.  It has a huge stone silo, not typical of southern barn architecture.

I

  

                                                              Backwater Seaweed

                                    Another view, leaves are gone and the colors more subtle.

     

                                                           In the Tennessee River Gorge


                     I painted this study  in early November, on one of those crisp blue-skied afternoons, right before the balmy weather and beautiful leaves left  for the winter months.  It was such a still afternoon; the reflections were so saturated in color across the little backwater. The Tennessee River is in the distance.  At this point it is surrounded by mountains and few manmade structures.  It feels almost like it did hundreds of years ago, except for the occasional bass fisherman....

This is what I painted the following day.  I think the light was brighter and there were no clouds in the sky.  As if the yellow ginko were not challenging enough, the water in front of it would not be still long enough to capture.  After I finished this study, I thought I would make it into a larger painting.  It should  translate well.

The weather was just perfect last week and my painting friends and I went to the Chattanooga Nature Center to paint.  This ginko was glorious in its yellow phase.  It seemed the sun lit it differently about every thirty seconds, but I couldn't help but try to capture the light and shadow.  The next day I returned for another go at it, and then painted the tree from a different angle.