A sketch that I had completed at the start of my work on my Parallel project received positive feedback during the feedback session for Part Four. It was a composition that I had intended to take forward into a larger study and this is the result.
The sketch that I referred to is replicated below.
For this painting I took a series of photographs as the work progressed.
Working initially in acrylic I sketched out the composition and then gradually built up the painting using Aqua oils. My aim was to try to get a subdued look with subtle highlights. I reached a point where I considered that I had reached an end point and stopped working on the painting.
I lived with paintings for a few days. There were a few aspects that I felt needed to be improved upon. The first was the wall in the view through the barn. It detracted from the sense of depth. It hovered in the middle distance interrupting the eyes travel into the distance. At the same time the partly fallen length of wood needed to be reduced in length. Lastly to roof of the barn lacked definition. The improvements were made and the re-worked painting is shown below.
The painting makes a worthy addition to the portfolio of paintings that I am gradually building up for my Parallel project. Whether it gets included in the final submission will be decided later.
Post script: Interestingly and much to my surprise renovation work has recently started on this old barn. It is already starting to look very different. When completed I will take some photographs and perhaps make a painting.
A reworking of the painting was performed following review at the Formative feedback session for Part Five. The landscape viewed through the Barn was toned down to enhance the aerial perspective and give the painting more depth. Finally, 26/11/2020 I added some highlights on the roof and gave the painting a title ‘The grass is greener’.
Mark Taylor 'Studio Practice' 