There are working farms with aging buildings all around this area, and the subject of this painting is one of my favorite barns. It has so many interesting elements that added to the challenge of capturing it in a painting: multiple roof angles, worn white painted barn doors, a glimpse of the dark barn interior, round haybales stacked under cover, and the rough bumpy barnyard creating texture in the snow. The sky and clouds were fabulous on the day I traipsed through the woods – walking along the barbed wire fence line – and the nearby trees were casting cool blue shadows. The twisted rusty barbed wire was what initially stopped me in my tracks, and I could see how it would help me create the “layers” of foreground, middle-ground (the barn), and background (the distant trees). Barbed wire fencing is so characteristic of old property borders in this area, functioning like the old stone walls in New England. I could hardly wait to start painting.
Back at my painting table, I lightly pencilled in my shapes on a 20″ x 16″ canvas, creating a low horizon so there would be lots of sky. My palette of fluid acrylic paints contains many “blue” hues, and I decided the sky would be best done using Phthalo Blue / Red Shade, mixing it lighter and lighter as the sky merged closer to the treeline. For the clouds, I used a more grayish blue, Anthraquinone Blue, mixed with white gesso, and applied it with pure white so I could mix shades on the canvas and soften the edges. Clouds look smaller the further away they are, lower and lower in the sky, and the bottoms are darker than the sunlit tops. I knew I’d be painting a big tree trunk along the right side of the canvas, so I wasn’t too concerned about the weird cloud shapes there.
Snow shadows are a “cool” blue, as opposed to the warm blues I used in the sky. I chose Payne’s Grey mixed with white gesso. Painting the snow on the ground was much like painting ripples on water. Next, I painted the distant hill and leafless trees. Then came the best part – painting the barn. The haystacks were so fun… no wonder Monet painted them over and over again! I love to depict texture and details, and this barn is full of both. With the barn complete, I moved on to finish the snowy background evergreens, the tangled web of branches on the large tree on the right, and the loops of loose barbed wire.
One of the prettiest things about fresh snow in the sunshine is the way it is faceted to reflect light, sparkling like tiny diamonds have be tossed all over the surface. In an attempt to mimic this effect, I spattered the foreground and the barn roof on my finished painting with Fine Iridescent Pearl paint (Golden Acrylics) thinned with gloss varnish, which contrasts with the matte varnish I had already used to seal the painting. It’s a subtle effect and one which you can only see in person and with light hitting the canvas at a particular angle, but I liked what this added.
Fortunately, there are many terrific barns all around Tennessee, and I’ve been collecting photo references for the past few years. I think there will be more barn paintings in my future, since I enjoyed doing “December Snow” so much.
Debra Rogers
Love this and barns! It is amazing how quickly you produce a painting.
Judy Lavoie Art
Thanks for saying such nice things… and for being my fan!
Unknown
Absolutely beautiful! You truly captured the essence of beauty in everyday subjects. Thank you for sharing your gift and talents. I'm a huge fan!