Monday, April 12, 2010

Tally Ho & Dreams of Kansas

A couple of years ago I invited Florida landscape painter Linda Blondheim to a hunt meet of Misty Morning Foxhounds out of Gainesville. We both took hundreds of photos and had a grand time. Horses, hounds, nature and friendly folks who take time to enjoy life - what's not to love? And did I mention the rest breaks for mimosas?

Creating these smaller pieces provides opportunity to experiment with various color theories. One of my favorites is split complementaries. In this painting, the dominate color - a warm shade of orange in the ground the subjects are standing on crosses the color wheel to it's opposite - blue. The split is actually the colors on each side of the blue complement - here being blue-violet and blue-green. The blue-violet dominates the shadows and the blue-green occurs as a strong under painting in the background trees. It's not as complex as it sounds. A decent color wheel illustrates clearly.

foxhunting"Anticipation" oil on canvas, 11"x14"

The inspiration for the next piece came from a conversation with a mid-western collector. My imagination kicked into gear as he described the summer storms rolling across the plains in his native Kansas. He recounted bright eerie light washing over the landscape as the dark storm clouds gathered in the distance. Not unlike Florida.

Do you like my lightning?

storms"Nervous Yearlings" oil on canvas, 11"x14"

Yesterday I gave a painting demo at the Appleton Museum of Art for the Ocala Art Group. I hope I inspired them with my oddball perception to passionately embrace their subject matter and inject it with stories of their vivid experiences.

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

5 comments:

Marian Fortunati said...

I always enjoy your paintings and joy in painting and experiencing life!!
Paint on!

Sharon Crute said...

Thanks Marian. I reciprocate with your beautiful California landscape paintings. Always a pleasant worthwhile visit to your blog. Did I tell you I'm a fan of your work?

Nancy Moskovitz, artist said...

Years??? Already??? Geeesshhh

gorgeous colors!

Anonymous said...

Nervous Yearlings, Confindent Painter.
The light coming from those dark skies is a very familiar display here too.
But then seeing how it spotlights those horses is seeing for the first time.
Beautiful, inspired work Sharon.

Sharon Crute said...

Nancy: heck, maybe it was last year...I can no longer keep track of time. Kinda don't care much anymore either.

Bonnie: oh, I'll bet you recognize those skies over the warm waters of you island home. Light skies - turn 180 - dark skies, VERY dark.

You are both so generous.