Saturday, October 23, 2010

My Neighbors Garden

Chesapeake Garden
12 x 16
oil on canvas board
Fortunately my neighbors are great gardeners!  This garden is near our coast home and is a delight to walk by.  I sadly don't have much of a green thumb and restrict my gardening efforts to our desert home where I don't have to worry so much about watering.  Cactus and sage survive my efforts.  As usual I tried to put way too much detail in and spent over half the time on this painting taking out unnecessary information that was very distracting.  Still a lot going on here but I'm happy to leave it for now.


8 comments:

Joanne Hanson said...

Such nice color Barb!

David Larson Evans said...

You nailed it...the rafters excellent...the colors and the contrast make it pop.

Pat said...

That's an absolute beauty! xx

martinealison said...

Quelle chance d'avoir de tels voisins ! Vous nous créez ainsi une charmante atmosphère. Bisous

d_Ceres said...

Very nice colours, also the global impact is very impressive.
Congratulations

Unknown said...

Thanks so much everyone for the kind comments. I've been thousands of miles away studying more gardens in tropical climes, a very different kind of beauty, some wild and some highly cultured but all stunning.

Unknown said...

A comment from Claire " Hi Barb, I bought Skaha Bluff Trail this summer at a winery in Penticton where my family has been for many years. I want to know what I need to do to protect it since it is now December (six months from purchase). Thanks. We love the painting.

Unknown said...

I'm so glad my painting has found a loving home. Thank you so much. Now for the varnish topic and I've sent you an email Claire as it's too big a topic to answer here. I will mention though that I like to 'oil out' the painting with walnut oil as soon as the paint firms up a little. This will even out the surface texture, bring back the glow and will create a less porous and a very strong bond needing very little extra protection except against dust and ultra violet rays. I choose not to varnish but do keep my paintings out of direct sunlight and try to keep my house reasonably clean...just kidding! I'd rather paint instead. Varnishing will certainly help with protection but it is a compromise as it can yellow, be overly glossy, leave streaky marks or if matt it may lose some brilliance. A personal choice I think.