11 x 14 watercolor and white gouache
I did it!!! A barn that makes my heart sing! I've never been this bold with strokes and color! I have pondered how to do this for days - how to paint the barn so that it makes my heart sing...I woke up from a nap this afternoon and suddenly... I knew! I knew exactly what to do. I can't explain it, but I got right up and went to the easel and finished the barn!
It started out with this sketch...done in about five seconds in a car (with someone else at the wheel of course). Notice the date is 2002.
And here it sat on my drawing board for about a week getting little washes here and there.
And then I took a nap... and when I woke up I knew exactly how I would finish it.
This barn has a story behind it and is a very special scene to me. I used to see it at the stoplight every day when I would go out to lunch from work. This scene always made me gasp with its beauty, changing with the seasons, but always a stunning view. I can't tell you how many times I have sketched this barn with the range of trees behind it, nestled in the green hill.
One day I noticed they were tearing it down! No! Not my barn! Yes, my barn...they are building a new corridor to the highway and the barn was in the way and so it had to go. I have mourned its departure ever since. Nothing about the view draws me without this barn there nestled into the green hillside with the trees behind it. I wonder if anyone else felt the loss. I still feel the loss... progress... I'm not so sure. Everything changes.
20 comments:
I know what you mean. Great story of how you were able to finish the barn. Funny how we become so attached to places. I just learned that a town tore down their old school where I taught years ago, after the people started a movement to save it for a community center or library. I just saw the pictures and I was ready to cry. And it wasn't even "my" school! Felt like the schoolboard just slapped the people in the face. They built a really ugly tin and brick place for their new school. I could see the place as a wonderful museum. It's a big loss for that town, the city, county, and state.
I think that, if someone tried to do that to my old school, I would be there, in front of the bulldozers to stop it! :) Well, at least I would be working hard to make sure it didn't happen.
I guess the barn wanted you to finish your painting so others could remember it. Thanks for sharing. I guess i will have to do something to remember the demolished school.
This makes my heart sing, too!
And how wonderful that you have this picture now that the barn is no more.
xoxo
I LOVE your barn . . .and the process of it's creation! Wonderful!!
fabulous. Love the vivid color. And what a nice way to preserve a memory.
Definitely a breakthrough there Deborah! I love the sketch you did back in 2002, but this re-make is astounding! Enjoyed the processes too
=)
Great painting to go with an equally great story. I too would be saddened by such development. I wish the world remained green.
I really like the sketch in your journal and well done for turning it into this lovely painting. I remember a view in a certain point on a road I used to drive along often, and I could mark the turning of the seasons by the colour of a huge solitary tree in the middle of a field. You've given me an idea for a few new sketches - thanks!
Beautiful work!
I totally understand the loss you felt. There was a building that I loved and felt like it was part of my soul. It just seemed to talk to me and comfort me. When it was tore down I felt such a tremendous loss. That building has been gone for over 20 years now but I still think about it and miss it.
I'm so happy you were able to paint your barn. Now you'll always have it with you.
These are the paintings that get to me. The emotion is just wonderful! Great job on a lovely memory.
Very well done!
A beautiful barn and the colours really sing. Brilliant! And as for progress, I'm not so sure. If this is progress we will soon live in a world of tarmac (think you may call this black top in the US!) with no beauty to see from the car window at all. Keep your beautiful picture safe to remind you of what was once and is no more.
Your painting creates movement and rhythym which draws the viewer in. Woohoo for bright bold colors!
Hooray for you - a breakthrough!! And you did it with a subject that has great meaning for you, to boot! The painting is bright and happy looking. Very well done, indeed! nancy
Re the bright colors - Matisse did it - why not you? I will call you a Fauvist! 8 years in the making - wow! I was touched by your description of your drive by the scene, and your loss, but you have found it again!
WOW!!! (Notice that was an all-capped wow!) I love the addition of the red fence, drawing your eyes right up to the barn. The colors are magnificent and this screams Deborah. You've made it your own!
Yay! It looks great and what you have commemorated in this picture is the happiness that barn gave you rather than just another nice scene. (Maybe that's why I have trouble with landscapes). This is great and it's your own vision.
Perfect!
This painting is absolutely lovely, very vibrant and alive. I love it.
That is a great painting and a great post. Progress really bothers me when it ruins the scenery. I am so happy for you, it is wonderful when an artist is truly happy with her work.
LOVE the barn - the colors and the road are just lovely!
Love the story too. Art is also the story behind the art. And loss can sometimes be memorialized through love, memory and art. You've done the barn justice. Thank you!
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