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New Art in the Bruce Collection
below...
In late October and early November 2018, I participated in the Brandywine Plein Air Festival, Pennsylvania, along with four other Maine artists, all friends. I enjoyed the autumn, my painting gear at the ready in my Ford Focus, seen here looking down from my hosts third-floor window. Little did I know the my Focus hood would have a new focus.
On the last painting day, November 1st, I was sketching a small watercolor in the parking lot of Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Winterthur, Delaware, where we were to leave our paintings for the show. Carol Douglas from Rockport, Maine had finished her painting for that day, and needed a flat place to frame it. My car's hood was perfect. And a few fresh oil paint smudges on the hood, easily wiped off.
Once the show was hung, we were each asked to submit one of our paintings for judging. While Carol was musing, I passed by and of course was partial to the one from my car's hood. But it truly was more than that. It stood out. And Carol, still not so sure, chose that one, and it was the Honorable Mention Winner with a cash award. Of course, I was thrilled.
Until July 8, 2021 it was still with Carol, when I was driving south from Stonington and stopped to say hello and peruse her gallery, and now it's part of my collection. I'm so proud to have this museum quality painting of Carol's in my collection. It's not only a painter's painting but it's a viewer's painting as well.
Home Farm
Carol Douglas, American
Oil on canvas, 20" x 16" (canvas art)
22.5" x 18.5" (framed) (w x h), 2018
Honorable Mention, Brandywine Plein Air Festival, 2018
Painted November 1, 2018, on the grounds
of Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library
(the former duPont Estate), Winterthur, Delaware
Why do I keep looking at this painting? Its simplicity is beguiling with the sure, smooth, broad brushstrokes. The strong geometric shapes define simplicity, form, and mass, their darks and lights adding depth. That brush stroke sky with the whitest cloud pulls my eye over the farm shapes, while that same long bright cloud's angle aligns with the field's brightest horizon angle, both leading my eye to the farm. The balance of the sky blue at the top right and the field in the bottom left, is one of those fine attentions to detail. And then there's that small sharp light yellow field highlights, perfectly placed to keep my attention on the farm. Plus, a hint of autumn color in the distance never overwhelms the painting, thus adding to it. I find myself intrigued by the shapes of blue in the sky and the broad stroke colors of the field.
And the final touch is the oil paint that was left off the canvas, keeping the Home Farm simple, that paint long ago gone from my Ford Focus hood.
It's easy to see why the judges chose Home Farm as a winner.
Why do you keep looking at this painting?
My friend Carol's art web blog Watch Me Paint is HERE.
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