I had a request, a commission so to speak (oh ok, it was
from my brother) to paint a pastoral scene such as
he had come to love driving to work in PA.
"I want a painting of bucolic farmland," he stated, "with
trucks and tractors, sheep, cows, barns, crops,
grass and mountains."
Commissions are, at best, an opportunity to paint something new; at worst they are a nightmare of micro-managed ideas not easily translated to the canvas. I sighed thinking that the number of requested ingredients did not add up to "bucolic." But exercising artistic license (I have one you know) I made some edits, some additions and peeled my eyes for ideas. I think we got it!
I decided to suggest some crop fields in the foreground.
the middle ground got a barn, silo and some things we will call sheep grazing
as a Florida transplant to PA my bro loves fall as much as I do, so I decided that
the bucolic scene would be in the fall, the mountains are a backdrop
here it is all together, so far he has approved but I am letting it "marinate"
before framing in case I decide to make some tweaks
I also want to thank my painting friend Carmen Beecher who generously gave me permission to use a photograph of hers for inspiration; her daughter lives in one of the houses at the bottom of the road and when I saw Carmen's "vacation photo" I knew it held many of the elements I needed
for my painting.
Bucolically Yours,
Cindy
