Barn Painting and Sailboat Racing

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My last blog post was about what sailboat racers do when the wind stops. As I thought about it and some of the paintings in this show I could almost apply these same thoughts to creating paintings. I especially had a hard time with one of the paintings which I’ll share with you. 

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This is a photo my nephew sent me of our family’s barn and granary. I know this scene well. It was taken from our house where I grow up. I drew the scene on the canvas and did a quick lay-in. I was very happy with it. On the next pass, I painted the granary and the foreground along with the road. I left the studio that day very happy with the direction this was going. The next day, I did the trees and a quick painting of the barn. Oops… the barn didn’t look right. I talked to some painter friends and they pointed out to me that my perspective on the barn of off. I tried to correct it and asked for help again. Still something was wrong. I painted it again using their advice and sent a photo to my brother. His answer back to me was “Your barn isn’t right!”

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Back to the metaphor of sailing when the wind stops… awareness, preparation, possibilities, calling for help and so on. Yes, I was “sitting in the middle of Puget Sound” as it were… I had to go through the same process as those sailors have to do when the wind stopped them. I also know that in painting, sometimes you just have to let it “rest”… or maybe, it was me who needed the rest! A couple of weeks later, I mixed up some colors, painted the barn, stepped back, and called it done. Am I happy with the painting? Well, I liked the barn better as it was in the lay-in. Which is what you see in this image here. That was the best barn, in my opinion. Pretty darn good barn!! Very painterly and loose. But sometimes you just have to let it be as it is.

You will see this painting in the show and you can give me your opinion. Of course, the lay-in barn has been painted over several times. But perhaps you’ll remember this image when you come to my show. You’ll be there… right?