Monday, April 27, 2015

Silverado Creek


"Silverado Creek"
Image Size 48" x 72"
Oil

Here is another one of my projects finished.  This one has been hanging around for over four years!  It's hard to stick a 4 foot by 6 foot painting in a closet.  It's been on my easel all that time and I'm so glad that it's finally finished!  Now, I can use that easel for something new and exciting.

This painting has gone through many stages through the years.  Originally, I planned to paint this as though you were seeing the image through a window.  The white areas would have been dimensional looking with the window divisions shaded as they would look as if it was a real french paned window.  I wanted to hang it in our bathroom and have it look like there was another real window in the room.  I thought it was a great idea at the time.  It started out as a scene that had mountains in the background, an orange grove in the middle ground and would have the upper parts of eucalyptus trees in the foreground - as though you were seeing them from a second story window.  Here is as far as I got on that idea:

After it sitting at this stage for a couple of years, I decided that I wasn't motivated because I didn't like the scene so I changed it to its first layer of the current scene but still kept the window idea:

It continued to sit until one of my friends told me that she didn't really like the idea of the window because it was too distracting.  I realized that I probably wasn't in love with that idea anymore either which was probably why I wasn't motivated to work on it.  My friend said that a couple of months ago and it was the motivation that I needed.

I've always loved this scene and have painted it before several times but only in watercolor.  This one is oil and it is the largest oil painting I've ever done.

I will probably play with it a little more after seeing it in this photo and looking at it in my studio over the next week but for now, I'm considering it finished!

8 comments:

  1. Bonjour chère amie,

    Je suis heureuse que vous soyez satisfaite de votre travail. C'est une très jolie peinture, bien qu'elle vous ait donnée du fil à retordre !...
    ❀ Gros bisous ❀

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    1. Merci Martinealison. Je suis tellement heureux que ce est enfin terminé!

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  2. It is absolute gorgeous perfection, Nancy! Truly! I cannot believe how fluidly you move from watercolors to oils to wax!

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    1. Thank you Sherry. It's exciting to change from one medium to another.

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  3. You have captured the tranquility of the scene perfectly. Love the water reflections and colors, also the hills. The treeline adds so much interest and steers you into the rocks. What's hanging out in those rocks I wonder?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Nelvia. I've always loved this scene.

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  4. What a great story and what fantastic painting! I like how you portrayed the scene as a unified whole, too, rather than with the window bars. Although, I bet you could also make a stunning composition looking through a window too!

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  5. I like it better this way too. Also, painting those straight lines with that stiff white oil paint would have been a nightmare.

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