12" X 16"
Oil on Linen
This is one of my favorite paintings for many reasons. It is a sunset in early spring. The sky was a sheet of gray for two nights. The trees were just about to bud but there was no sight of them. The sunset didn't offer vibrant colors those two nights. And the trees had no leaves to make them look alive. The grass was just beginning to show some life. But it all had a beauty of its own; the beauty of the beginning of Spring.
This painting may not be a show-stopper but it captured the experience I had studying this view. I watched and studied the sunset each evening for eight evenings while attending Deborah Paris' Landscape Atelier in Clarksville Texas in April. There were nine students for the eight days and three more over the weekend. Deborah is a Tonalist Master and is an excellent art teacher as well. Along with her teaching she shares her extensive art library and knowledge of art history. We focused on the American Landscape artists of the 1800s. The first two days we did Field Sketching. We observed and studied what views got our attention and gave us the desire to paint it. Then we asked WHY. Not an easy thing to do but necessary to understand the art process. The remainder of the days we spent painting from our sketches and value studies. All of us grew as artist by leaps and bounds. It was a pivilage to study with an art master and teacher and a real pleasure to paint with dedicated and serious artists.
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