Patsy's View

"Do you ever take requests for paintings?"

Ahhh... One of my favorite questions! 

YES!  I do love to put someone's story on canvas for them.

A list of questions come first:

What size? Square or rectangle? Is there a time constraint? Etc.

Then... What reference photo?... What details are important to be included?

Once I'm pretty sure what my assignment is, I want to know the story. 

What makes this image special? What meaning does it hold?

If I'm painting someone's story, I love knowing what the story is.

Thanks, Parker, for sending it.

"This is a photo of the view from inside my wife's grandparent's house in East Texas, taken the last time we were there and just before the house was sold.  Patsy would look out this window as she washed dishes over many years.  Through this window with blinds pulled up, she gazed upon her garden and her husband Hubert's cows milling about inside and outside the barn.  You can get lost in this quiet pastoral scene, especially in our thoroughly modern and frantic world."

Just for fun, here's a little 30 second video of the painting process. Enjoy!

 

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

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Old Barn & Fence in Summer

My weekly-ish challenge was "Barns" this time.  Now that (finally) is a comfortable subject to put on canvas!  When I started painting back in 2007, I painted a lot of barns.  I went back to look and do a little math.  About 1out every 15  of my first 350 paintings was a barn.  (Click HERE to do a quick scroll through of my barn paintings... There are a lot of them!) 

Then... I don't know why... I quit.   I've only done 2 or 3 out of the last 200 paintings. 

What a pleasure to learn that I was "assigned" to do another!

I found the reference image I used on unsplash.com.  There were many barn images available, but I was drawn to this one immediately.  What a surprise I got when I went back to get the link and give credit to the photographer, Mick Haupt. He wrote "Exploring through the Ozarks with the family and had to stop and capture this rustic barn. Enjoy it and paint this scene. Rushing, Arkansas."

Oh, my goodness!  Well, no wonder I was drawn to it! It was taken right here in my own Ozarks! Thanks Mick!

Original Palette Knife Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas
Click "Old Barn & Fence in Summer" if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Red Barn and Wishing Well

When I look at this painting my eyes wander... and my mind wonders...

Can an image be described as poetic?

When I was a teacher, my students and I would sometimes do an activity using "I wonder..." statements when we looked at a poem. 

I find myself doing it with this image.

• I wonder...
• I wonder if who owned this barn...
• I wonder who dug the well...
• I wonder if any animals still live here...
• I wonder why they painted the barn red...
• I wonder if the water from the well tastes fresh...
• I wonder if the wind is blowing...
• I wonder if there is still hay in the loft...
• I wonder why there are no tools or equipment around the barn...
• I wonder if the woods also belong to the farmer...
• I wonder if there's a musty hay-like smell when the door opens...
• I wonder what forgotten treasures are tucked away inside...
• I wonder if children played in the hay...
• I wonder if they made hay from the grass around the barn...
• I wonder if they had cows... or sheep... or goats... or a donkey...
• I wonder if farming was the only income or a side job...
• I wonder if anyone still uses this barn...
• I wonder if anyone still cares about this barn...
• I wonder...

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas.

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Old Barn in the Smokies

I love old barns... The old wooden ones with the rusty metal roofs... The one like my grandma and grandpa had... Barns that were filled with cows and hay and plows and mules and kittens and ropes and chains and buckets... 

Maybe my favorite paragraph ever is the one that describes the barn in Charlotte's Web.

The barn was very large.  It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure.  It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows.  It often had a sort of peaceful smell - as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world.  It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease and of rubber  boots and of new rope.  And,  whenever the cat was given a fish-head to eat, the barn would smell of fish.  But mostly it smelled of hay, for there was always hay in the great loft up overhead.  and there was always hay being pitched down to the cows and the horses and the sheep.

.... Sigh... 
Thank you, E.B. White, for painting such a beautiful description with words.

When I started looking for a picture of a barn to paint, I remembered this one that I took this a few years ago when we were in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

I painted it, finished it, and photographed it.  But, didn't blog about it because something wasn't right.  I just left it on an easel and avoided looking at it. 
Finally, I sucked it up and really looked at it to see what one little thing or two needed to be tweaked... ummmm... or seven or eight things...

1. The tree back looked like a lollipop.
2. The road made it look like the barn was sticking out its tongue.
3. The tree in front was too small and messed up the whole perspective.
4. The back field was too light and looked like a scum-covered pond.
5. The back row of trees was too green and looked like a giant inchworm.
6. The first mountain was too dark.
7. There was a lot of the same green going on.
8. The grass was boring.

Sometimes the painting fairies come in during the night and make a painting look better than I thought it had.  Sometimes I just have to do it myself. 

I love the final finished version.

I can just imagine all the work and joy and stress and daily routines and life that went on in that barn when it was new.  

Original Oil Painting on 10"x 20" Wrapped Canvas.
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Barn up the Road

This is the type of image that stops me.
Imagine the stories that could begin here!!!
..."Papa stopped the wagon so we could have one last look..."
..."She knew he'd be waiting inside after he finished the chores..."
..."Grandpa told her he thought she was old enough to drive the tractor to the barn..."
My imagination goes on and on... It's a perfect setting.

So, how did I come across this fantastic setting?
There's a little button at the top of blogger that says "New Blog."  Every once in a while I click it.  You never know what kind of blog will pop up.  Usually I spend a minute or two then move on, but every once in a while there's one that holds my attention.  And, that is how I came upon this image.
It came from a photography blog called Pics of the Day, and Stuff. Click and go have a look.  You'll find captivating photographs of simple elegance.
When I came to the post titled New Outhouse, Same Old Barn, it stopped me... my imagination took over.
Thank you, Tom, for capturing this fabulous barn in a photograph and allowing me to put it on canvas. 

I'm always happy when a painting sells, but... I secretly hope I get to enjoy it on my own wall for a while. :)

Original Oil Painting - 10"x 20"
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Yosemite Barn

Don't you just love old barns?

I can't resist them... so much has gone on inside and around them... lambs born, cows milked,  horses fed, hay pitched down, tools stored... 

I painted this barn to submit to the June challenge for A Day Not Wasted.  I love to see the varied styles that different artists use to paint the same image. 

Enjoy a lovely Etsy treasury (collection of related art pieces and vintage items) that celebrates the country fair!  Click on Labor Day Country Fair.

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Barn by the Pond

What gives an old barn such personality?


What a perfect setting! A charming old barn beside a little pond with mountains in the background... I can just imagine the days when there were calves in the barnyard, hay in the loft, ducks in the pond, and a mule or two in the stables.

On the way home from a spring hike through the Ozark Mountains near the Buffalo River, we stopped many times to take photos of great farm scenes. Maybe we'll return. I'd like to see this scene in summer and in the fall.

This painting was fortunate to be featured in a couple of Etsy treasuries (collection of art pieces and vintage items) called Spring in the Barnyard or  Home on the Range.  Click and enjoy a celebration of farm life.

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Original Oil Painting on 10"x 20" Wrapped Canvas

Red Barn in Summer

I wonder why barns are red...

This was one of my first attempts at painting barns. There's kind of a storybook tone about this one... maybe a little too perfect, but a place I'd like to imagine is real.

I imagine there's a black and white milk cow named Daisy, a brown horse with a white blaze between his eyes, three sheep that are puffy white, a pink pig that never gets muddy, and a rooster that crows at sunrise.

Oil Painting on 16"x 20" Canvas

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