The repitition of agricultural produce

The produce in question: of course the cornfield.

While the last attempt yielded long grasses, it was far too wild and rugged for good German, intensively fertilised corn. So, rather than pursuing Brian's good advice for variation, I veered intensively into the opposite direction: repetition, repitition, repetition (which figures as another point on his list).

So much so that I felt I was doing a caricature rather than a pastel painting. That wasn't a bad feeling, though: I'd love to be able to do them, but again: a lack of illustration skills gets in the way.

Just for memory purposes:

The first attempt at something bigger cornfieldish is here

Cornfields, Acrylics/Pastel on board 35x25cm

This, then is Cornfields # 2

Cornfields #2
Pastels/Acrylics on board, 35x25cm

And? Enough repetitive intensity?

Cornfields #2 Detail
Pastels/Acrylics on board, 35x25cm

I think so. But all the same, I notice something majorly wrong with this. Do you see it?

A hint: try to figure out time of day, direction of sun etc - usually the practicalities I don't bother with too much when I pick hues/values I want to. But with this one it struck me afterwards - too much realism gone wrong: The trees are getting full on sun from the left (south east) while the distance is almost in an evening/dust type dullness. Doesn't quite work, does it?

Will fix it, though. And then let cornfields be cornfields for a while.

Treasures of summer

... the fruits of my hours in front of the computer today has been a Treasury at Etsy.

These treasuries are curated lists of handpicked items on any one theme - but timing is crucial as it is only for a few seconds, when the number of treasuries drop below a certain threshold, that you are able to create one.

I've called mine 'Let summer linger a little longer' - I think I'm not quite in the mood yet for autumn and here's my etsied attempt of staving it off for a little while. Go and have a look as it will expire on Tuesday lunchtime:

Screen shot of my Etsy treasury

[the treasury expired on Tue 18/09,
but see current treasuries here]

[By the way, I've figured out how to do screen shots :)]

Summer fruits

...continuing my mostly virtual celebration of summer (but: as we speak the sun is actually shining into my living room!!!), I found some more soft fruit in the shops... this time redcurrants, and made yet another batch of jam, this time with half redcurrants, half strawberries (for a fuller recipe, see this post here). I must admit that I always get excited at the sight of summer fruit and vegetable - something about its freshness and beauty. This was on my kitchen counter last night:

















While I've been sketching skies, clouds, rocks and trees this summer, I should take note and plan something on vegetable and fruit for the next summer... so, note taken.

I had started a few fruit sketches at my parents, and here's one with some plums on a branch.

Plums, Mixed media, sketchbook, 14x21 cm