Autumn, dusk, Fall, farm, Harvest Painting, hay, oil, oil painting, plein air - October 08, 2023

October Congregation

Fall is here and with it brings a dazzling display of color! Golds, ambers, purples and garnets dot the woods where I live. I had been eyeing a peanut field across from my mailbox and driveway for over a month. The peanuts grew and were harvested leaving a dusty trail of leftover peanut vines. These the farmers rolled for hay, using big, noisy equipment that quickly deposited the rolls of hay bales across the field.

I must have taken thirty or forty photos of the field and hay bales to ensure that the lighting was just right. The rows of bales were dropped by the roller almost randomly but the placement seemed to suggest some were just close enough to be gathering for conversation, while other bales were straight forward ready to listen. I decided they looked as if they were part of a Sunday church congregation, especially since I began to paint them from life on a late Sunday afternoon. The light was particularly golden then, casting soft hazy shadows from the bales onto the soil.

Once I was able, I took the painting into the studio and began to work a little more on it from my hastily written notes as the light began to fade outside.

I was able to capture the beginning of the field in a washy, loose style that suited the scene. Leaving behind a feathered appearance to the clouds, trees and ground, I felt confident in my brushstrokes from the first moment.

As the week progress, I added to the details of the painting, bringing in more of the straw, bluish tones of the pines in the distance, and the stalks of grasses and vines left in the soil. Darker areas of value were added and highlights brushed in for a greater expanse of depth to the painting. The final result was one of my favorite paintings this year.

You can find this painting and more at my online Shop page.

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MarkDixon May 31, 2024

I like impressionism

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October Congregation

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