View in the Rain

View in the Rain

Now this one... this one was the most challenging painting of the weekend. I had found a view I loved after much driving around, though I passed it by the first time. It took far too long getting back to it, since I was lost! It was another public access site along one of the conservancy trails, but it was pretty far out from where everyone else was painting. 

11" x 14"

Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel

Framed in simple black frame

Coming soon to my website.

I had a slow start on Saturday morning, and I guess all of us who were painting did. It was raining on my way to the paint out, but was predicted to stop soon. As it turns out, the weather people are not exactly 100% accurate, in case you have been wondering. It either drizzled, sprinkled, or outright rained until around 3:30 in the afternoon, and then was just... damp. And chilly. Well, in spite of the morning weather, I got back to my site and got myself all set up under the tailgate of my car for a smidgen of rain protection. It was drizzling. And it drizzled the ENTIRE time I was there. Which meant that my WATER BASED acrylic paints and my panel I was painting on were constantly spritzed with water and did not act like they normally do. 

This called for additional creativity on my part - which is actually great, though I might not have thought so as I worked. Because the air was so heavy with moisture, the things in the distance looked grayed out and muted, and even things nearby were muted versions of themselves. (The photo doesn't begin to show the mistiness.) Though it is difficult to see in the photo, there was a cut between trees across the road, and the 'valley' between them looked intriguing. I really wanted to capture the sense of mystery and invitation in that scene. 

My finished painting definitely carries mystery, doesn't it!? Some of the brush marks remind me of the way Van Gogh laid paint on his canvases. The difficulties the early impressionists and post impressionists faced were far more daunting than a little drizzle, and I wonder whether Van Gogh's paint, surfaces, and plein air situations impacted the way he painted. 

I know it is "a stretch", but this verse, and others like it come to mind when I think about how the drizzle caused me to take a different direction with this painting. (I think it is actually my favorite of the four I did this weekend, in spite of, or because of the challenge.) Maybe I can use it to remind myself that the struggles we face daily are part of God's plan to steer us to maturity and to choosing well. 

James 1:2-4 Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.