Two More River Sketches

Our recent visit to friends in Virginia was a wonderful respite. Their place is a calming retreat in the Alleghanies a few miles from Roanoke, along the bank of a small, clear-flowing river. The river was cooling, the wind in the sycamores a quiet rustle, and the gyre of civilization remote as the South Pole. People float the river during summer, especially on weekends, but their passing presence is cheering, not disturbing. We arrived after Labor Day, so there weren't many rafters to break the quiet.

Across the Hayfields, oil on panel, 9x12

As I wrote in the earlier post linked above, there was plenty to sketch and paint. In truth, it was easy to paint multiple subjects from the same place. You could paint the river, banks, trees, and the cliff across the way, or the distant mountains, or a farm far across a hay field with little change in position. The oils in my previous post showed the cliff which is northeast, and the distant mountains across a farm and fields to the south. The two posted here were slightly different, the first of a far barn and silo was done looking almost due west but the house in the final panel was done from a different position to study the blue house.

The House on the River, oil on panel, 9x12

The blue house was the last outdoor oil I managed and only a ninety minute sketch of a house on the river, done from downstream along the bank. The house has a barnlike silhouette and the turquoise siding is a beautiful complement to two red painted houses behind it. I stood in the shade of a big sycamore and laid this one in with mostly strokes of paint. The photo is somewhat lighter than the actual work, which flattens the depth. The reds of the background are a value or two darker, and if the work was available I'd darken those in the studio. As it happens, it went to our hosts as a memento.

Again it seems to me that painting outdoors is a real opportunity to go to the sources--the greens are different and the flowers more brilliant. Shadows show their colors in ways not obtainable in photos. The purpose of working outside might be to produce finished, marketable paintings but in the case of these works the purpose was to study the colors and light of the landscape where we stayed, and as a way to continue working outside using my new plein air setup. The setup was very handy and portable, satisfyingly so. And working outdoors is becoming more comfortable and routine. Working outside pays dividends, at least for me.