rural...Days Gone By Barn....

[LarrySeiler]

there is something of late about painting rural scenes on location, setting up outdoors with a portable easel...and I came across this old barn that was weathered, access over grown with trees, weeds....

9"x 12" oil on linen...
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/12-Sep-2004/532-colebarn72.jpg

It immediately reminds us of our temporal passing on this planet, and at the same time calls for respect. You consider the questions of who might have owned and worked this farm originally? Where were they from, did they immigrate? How many in the family, and so forth. Folks with dreams, working hard...living, and dying.

It brings to mind peace...and yet, struggle. Enduring...and yet in the end, a finiteness. In time...nature will claim this barn. Moisture and winds reducing it to collapse, fall in...rot, decay...

It was a pleasant 75 minutes spent at the end of a warm invigorating day.

a few days earlier in the same area...I had an hour on this smaller 6"x 8" panel to do an oil study of the last hour of light-

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/20-Sep-2004/532-nashville_painting72.jpg

peace...

Larry

[sassybird]

Both of these are very nice, Larry. I prefer the one with the barn, because I also think about those that came before me.

[Cyndi L]

I love the whole feeling of "we are but a mist" that I get from the first one ~ nothing made by human hands lasts forever. Give it a few years and the vegetation takes over!

[Double Chocolate]

I think that impermanence is strong theme for lots of artists.
When we create images, especially figurative images aren't we trying to 'fix that moment in time'?
Minutes later and the light has changed, weeks later and the leaves have fallen, years later and the barn is gone.
I also prefer the peice with the barn, although I couldn't immediately say why. It feels very homely.
Thanks for posting them.

[DLGardner]

Oh, these are so lovely Larry, as always!
I love old barns too. I don't know why. Its almost a nostalgic feeling. Its almost like I remember when my grandma was young...how fresh the air was, the sweet smell of grass, the sound of the rooster and the horse in the field. All the things I dreamed of when I was a child. Yet the world moves on and those memories, even if they never spoke reality, nestled deep in my heart.
Life is good.

Here's mine.
Not plein air, but I painted this from a snapshot I took driving through the countryside in the state where I grew up.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/05-Oct-2004/8002-Redb.jpg

[LarrySeiler]

absolutely gorgeous Dianne!!!!!

There are telltale things about paintings done from photographs which signal my senses to more or less wrinkle a nose. Just misses the spark that life has. This painting has managed to keep that spark. Having a good sense of what goes on outdoors no doubt helps!

wonderful... :clap:

Larry

[DLGardner]

Thank you Larry. I have to admit, doing plein air has certainly given me knowledge that I can use in my studio work!

Dianne

[uncertainid]

Hello everyone. I've been lurking around in here for a while and I just wanted to comment on the pics.
Larry, I like both of these but I think my favorite is the second one. It speaks to me of a life well-lived that is drawing to a close...still lovely but fading into the blessed night. I know many folks who are in that "last light of day", and those who have lived a spiritual life often have faces that reflect light much like your trees are doing.
Your work always "wows" me. These two are no exception.

Also, d garden: I had to look twice to make sure I wasn't looking at a photo. In fact, I got the impression I was looking out a window at first. Great job! :clap:
sara