Up early and painting on Saturday morning is become a routine now. I focused on all the vines and the barn, closing in on the wood pile. I need to darken parts of the shadow side of the barn (it doesn’t look aged enough) and the big door on the bottom right so it doesn’t draw so much attention. It’s coming together more now.
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So far with this painting I have been standing up holding the brush(a quill or a 12 or 14 round) from the end, just putting in loose washes and mixing colors. The painting is starting to take shape. I can now get into the smaller brush work. That big empty spot in the center left is a pile of debris that will be fun the sort out. I think this isn’t going to have much to do with Jamie Wyeth work I saw. I got away from that as I was painting, and came back to my interest in Sargent. Unfortunately the composition doesn’t seem to be working for me. I may have to crop it interestingly to fix it now that I’ve changed my thinking mid way. Perhaps the debris pile will become the focal point. That will resolve itself as I get further into it, and even if it doesn’t, it’s good to be back at it with some more consistency again.
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I moved this painting a little further this morning, laying in the some washes and shapes and working out the barn. The colors aren’t right throughout, but I intend to adjust them in the later stages. For this morning I just wanted to get the shapes in. This is probably not the best painting to use to think through what I saw in the Jamie Wyeth exhibit, but I think the point for me in this one is to just work on overall tinting of the painting, getting the right mood. More thoughts on Wyeth later. For now, here’s what I worked out this morning.
I’m moved in to my new house now, and I’ve got a nice studio set up in what ordinarily be the “formal living room” just off the foyer. It has wonderful light coming in throughout the day. Thanks to my dad, I now have one of his drafting tables and a studio light. I’m most excited about these two things with a real connection. I love the paint stains, the battered lamp. I remember using this table when I was a kid and he was at his big table.
I’ve started my first painting in the new studio. After seeing the Jamie Wyeth exhibit in Boston this summer, I decided to try a few works with yellow light tinted color schemes. He was really an amazing painter. I might prefer his work to his father’s, if only because he seems to have more range. His paintings of gulls are so potent. I’m not up to that challenge yet, so for this one I’m confining myself to a scene of an old barn by Betty’s Neck in Lakeville.
Corey Aber 