"Boca de la Cañada", 6" x 8" oil on linen, 2008
Private Collection
The little white church in this painting is in Boca de la Cañada (Mouth of the Canyon).
There is not a lot of spring color around here yet. In a lot of places there is a fine white dust on everything. I had to rely on a simple value plan and not bright colors for this one.
(Side note added Feb. 13th) I meant to mention that this was done in two sessions in the studio from a recent photo. The first day I used the photo as reference. I found myself getting caught up in too much detail for this small size. I did not need every rock and branch etc... For the second round, I did not look at the reference at all, and I found that I could simplify the painting quite a bit.
6 comments:
Hi Frank, I spent some time really looking at this one. It has a wonderful expressive quality in the way you portray the sweep of the land. This piece has a great balance of purely aesthetic qualities, the forms and colours etc. and a sense of place. You handled the trees with a real elegance and subtlety. I love it.
Hey Frank, this is really lovely, beautiful composition. I love the way you lead into the subject using the road and the stone wall. Very impressionistic! Again, the texture of the linen adds much to the piece, too. I ordered a dozen 8X 10 panels from Raymar as you suggested and very much enjoy working with them.
Still snowing here, would love to be in Mexico dust and all...
Thanks Eric, I tried to keep it as simple as I could for a subject with lots of details.
And Jack, thanks. I liked the way the path and wall wound its way up the hill too.
That texture of the linen really shows up depending on the angle of the light when I photograph. Like I mentioned to you, I shoot them in full sun, because I think I get more accurate color.
I'm glad you like those panels. They are my favorites.
By the way guys, I added some text to my post that I left off yesterday.
Thanks for your comments!
Oh, we had a real hard rain the other night Jack and it washed all that dust off.
frank, i am always astounded at how you can find the nuances in every little bit of shadow and light. your shadow areas in this are just lovely. i agree with eric about the way you portrayed the sweep of the land and your eye just lands on this stunning little white church, i can almost see it in my mind, lit up by sunshine.
Thanks Christine, I really appreciate your thoughts.
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