It has been a blessed year here in the Midwest. Despite the snow, freezing temperatures and limited time to work on my art, I am nevertheless, very thankful. The good thing about getting older as an artist is that I see things that never used to register with me. I can sense all of the good ingredients to making a painting, when I see nature before my eyes. I can imagine the season, time of day, color keys, weather and other concerns that could work together to take an idea from just okay to "wow". I like to surprise the viewer and pick locations and color schemes that wouldn't be the first idea that would come to mind when painting, say, a set of buildings in the snow.

The idea for this scene came to me a while ago, through a photograph that I took near my hometown of Cushing, Iowa. A simple set of farm buildings set against the afterglow of a winter sunset. I keep every photo and I have taken thousands. It has helped to train my "painter's eye" over the years. These days, a computer and photo manipulating software help me to save time and narrow down what I like about the scene. I crop the scene down to where I want it. I take out details that I find, detract from my goal. I magnify the special set of colors that I remember seeing on that day. They actually occurred a few minutes before I took the photo for reference. Also, I have found that photography does a poor job of capturing moments the way that I see them. I will discuss that more in future postings. If you compare the photo to the final version, you will notice one of the main elements in successful paintings; simplify, simplify, simplify! 

I hope you enjoy the holiday season, my friends, stop and take a look around at the beauty all around us this Christmas season. 

Peace, -Darby