Thursday, June 3, 2010

PAINTINGS - "STEMS Plein Air" Pt.4

Okay...I know I just posted last night, but I've got a new one that I just finished this evening after work. We're supposed to get rain for the next several days, so I figured I try to get one more done. I'm not keen on sticking a freshly wet painting in a frame, so this'll give me a few days of drying time before deciding on which ones to enter for the judging.

This image is of the little school house and big red barn entrance, just inside the Deanna Rose Farmstead. I'm pretty happy with the way I kept the strokes all loose and juicy, and I think I hit the late afternoon light about right. I'm leaning a bit towards entering this one, but the leading contenders are the two paintings of the tractor and thresher, and the Medicine Wheel Hut.

Thoughts anyone?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definitely the first thresher you posted, and the one of the tractor and thresher you redid and posted tonight....And I still like the quietness of the Indian rock pile. Those are my favorites. Very proud of you for pushing through and accomplishing this. I like the church and barn, but somehow the subject matter doesn't grab me as contestant material. mom

Anonymous said...

Well my 2 favs are the school house and barn and the newest tractor and thresher one. I can't decide yet which one is my most favorite. Debra

Warren said...

Thanks, Mom...your votes have been counted!

Warren said...

Hey, Debra...we hit the post at the exact same time! Thanks for your vote too.

grey_death said...

I really enjoy the latest piece, you've definitely found a great time to work on these now, the lighting works fantastically for the subject matter. It does feel a bit 'centered' along the vertical, but that's a minor critique and could be alleviated with a crop in either direction :p

I think it depends on what you are wanting to present in your selections. If you are going towards selecting a 'body of work' from the group I would go with the tractor, the reworked tractor/thresher and the school house as a well detailed and compositionally sound (good use of negative space as well as rule of thirds).

For a more painterly presentation, the first painting of the trees, the medicine wheel and the deep woods tree feel similar in aesthetic and would do well working off of each other.

But then you could show various styles within your style by presenting a variety of them!

I lean more towards my first suggestion as it feels like the most complete set of subjects/paintings though.

Stan BLOG said...

This new one seems a lot looser and has larger blocks of color. I really like it! The contrast, color palate, and shapes all work. In my humble opinion

Warren said...

Thanks, Grey and Bug! I appreciate your encouraging comments.

My gut says to turn in the school house with the two tractor paintings...they're all from the same location, as well as hold together with the rusty oranges. We'll see where I finally land over the weekend.

Hey, Grey...do you do any oil paintings? You had mentioned that you'd love to participate in something like this event. Send me a link, if you've posted 'em somewhere! (You do smashing work on the miniatures, by the way...and I like your terrain "tank hill" too.)

grey_death said...

Warren, I've done some oil work in the past but I'm just dipping my toes into the medium to be honest. I've just recently finished my first semester of schooling towards my bachelors. I just finished up with Painting I and some of my (boring) work can be found here in my photobucket. It's not much more than school still life acrylic work and whatever else they've had me do for grades though! I did get to do a portrait though and was really happy with it considering it was my first ever portrait painting.

linsolomons said...

Love them all, your final decision sounds good, especially if they were all close together in location. But you get all my votes no matter which ones you enter!!! Awesome!!!

Fitz-Badger said...

They're all very cool, but my favorites are the ones with the tractors. Colorful and different (in a good way!).

Anonymous said...

We like all of them too. If we had to vote it would be the newest tractor and thresher. Love your paintings. Harold & Susie

Warren said...

Thanks everyone for helping me to choose the final lineup. I appreciate all the encouragement...this was a challenge for me to get out there again. I'll be turning in the three framed paintings tomorrow...we'll see if I make the cut for the show!

Anonymous said...

Warren, we're back from Hawaii and I took a look - love them all, but especially the tractor & thresher. I like the way your mom put it!

Love, Cheri