This John Deere Weather Vane is another one of my first tries at plein-air painting. I employed a technique I use all the time in studio painting: I underpainted the trees on the left and the foreground with a fucshia red and let it show through. It enlivens the dark mass of green foliage. This raised-bed garden and vane are located on my Aunt and Uncle Hogan’s farm in Aitkin, Minnesota. It was a hot day and I was out there with my french easle that is always falling apart and has irreplaceable hardware…..Thank goodness for duct tape! I’ve just bought myself a wonderful solution to the problem, Fed-exed to my door. More on that in another blog. All I need now for plein air painting is a head-to-toe mesh bug suit to protect me from deerflies and mosquitoes.

Below is two hours worth of a new painting of an cheese danish in progress. I may add another element to the composition, or simply change the color of the cloth. I wouldn’t mind at all if there were a pattern on the fabric. I love pattern on pattern. It takes a lot to overtax
my eye.

I’ll be away from home and my paintbrushes for the weekend. Can’t wait to get back to the cheese danish and Anna Reading next week.

John Deere Weather Vane, 8×10, oil on canvas, Sold