Westport Farm, 16″ x 20″, UART 320
Underpainting, stage 1
Underpainting with alcohol
I’ve been searching through my files of pictures from Mattapoisett and the towns around there. One of my favorite places is Westport, MA. It’s an old town of rolling farmland and old farmhouses that hasnt’ changed a whole lot. I found this picture of light and shadow and decided I really wanted to paint it. It’s a pretty cool picture overall so I knew I wanted to start with a warm underpainting and I had a good time with it. Kind of wild! Used the same greens from the last pianting and liked them.
I wanted the sky to be soft and cool at the left, warm at the right. The soft oranges and yellows that represent light kind of look like clouds or fog, but that’s OK. Could be sunlit fog–it’s near the water.
The tree was not easy. I used nothing but soft pastels in it (no Giraults). I started with some deep blue in the shadows but it stood out too much and I later replaced it with red violet and green. The garage is done with a little warmer violet, while the house is all blues. I used a warm orange brown Girault to add the sense of peeling paint in some areas, which was quite visible in the photo.
The picture is a challenge due to the contrast of light and shadow. The green grasses in front of the house are really dark. I’ve tried to indicate some stones set into the grass that would have been an entry to the door at one time. I doubt that it’s used much now. I added some red violet to the green where it meets the yellow green.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about the fence but I knew I had to put something in. In the end, I chose to put it in as a I saw it with the two levels of vertical pieces. Kind of interesting!
I really enjoyed doing the painting and could picture being there on the road to Westport Harbor. I took the picture after a lovely time painting down by the water with friends Sarah Brown and Janet Gendreau.
I hope you are staying well and enjoying our lovely weather before it gets too hot.
Not sure what’s up next!