This working farm in this painting is across North Pond (the body of water in the center) in Union Maine. While this particular farm is not as industrious as it once was, it still boasts four large barns and a farmhouse. Despite the name, it was primarily a cattle farm in its heyday.
Believe it or not, the people who own this 185 acre farm won the lottery and purchased the property for approximately $4 million dollars about 15 years ago when the real estate market was at its zenith here in Maine. This story was relayed to me when I used to work in the local school system. The new owners were a sister-in-law to one of the teachers I worked with. Getting back to the farm, I do believe there are still a few cows remaining, but not as many.
This past Monday, I sketched in the house in the foreground, the hillside, trees, bushes, and buildings. Then I painted the sky, the background a dark purple, the house was brown and tan, and finally the grass by the farm was a spring green - popping out that area. My eye was drawn to the center, but the overall perspective wasn't pleasing to me.
I also painted in the green evergreen to the right of the foreground tree, but I found that aspect to "crowd in" too close to the farm - and wasn't happy with that either. The more I looked at it, the more I thought this painting was producing a great deal of struggles.
Two days later, I altered the hillside color, toned down the grass, added other greens to the foreground grass, changed the house to a reddish color, and finished the foreground tree. I then added a brown glaze to the white dirt road and called the painting done.
Working a farm is not easy - sometimes painting one can be just as challenging!
Until next time,
The Happy Painter,
Jill
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