This old shed is one of my most photographed subjects. I take pictures of it in various weather, lots of sunsets, and throughout the seasons. Now it’s time for an Old Shed with Red Sunset painting, using my Ozark pigment oil paints.
Just a reminder, I won’t be able to achieve the vivid colors in the photo. These earthy pigments are gorgeous in their own right, but it won’t be a photo-realistic painting. I suspect it’ll still be beautiful when I’m done, though.
My Reference Photo
This old shed has been here longer than we have. It was probably one of the first structures built on the homesite we now occupy.
What about that unsightly telephone pole? Will I use my artistic license to take it out of the scene? Probably not, but I’ll take out the others. That pole is the first pole that ever was erected here in the early 1960’s. The people that lived here in this area, called ‘Weathers’ at the time, didn’t get electricity until then.
So they were living a true pioneer lifestyle here, even then when man took his first steps on the moon.
Imagine it, when most of the country enjoyed the luxuries of modern life, these residents were still washing clothes by hand and unless they had the good fortune of a gravity-fed spring like ours, were still hauling water and throwing out chamber pots or using out-houses.
Old Shed with Red Sunset Progress Pics
I’m trying to work in very thin layers for this one so I have a smooth finish at the end. It’s hard to allow myself this much time, but in order to do it so that it looks the way I want when I’m finished, I have to let each layer dry completely before the next.
So progress is excruciatingly slow and it doesn’t look like I’ve done much between each session. Now I need to make more paint for a few of my colors before I can go forward, so it’ll have time to dry again.
Making Mistakes and Backtracking
I’ll start here for the rest of the progression images. My cedar trees in the middle ground aren’t working. But I have a plan to fix them and that’s what I’m doing next. It’ll involve some back-tracking.
In the first image, I’ve started the process of painting over the large cedar and am working on the trees that are supposed to be visible in some spaces behind it. Before I started this, I sanded down the paint on the cedar so that it would be a smooth surface.
The second image shows the fix complete. I like the new cedar MUCH better, and I hope you do, too.
Here’s a short video at the halfway point that shows the color a little better. I brought the painting outside for better light.
The Moment of Quickening
I made a separate blog post about the moment this painting began to come alive for me. Click here to read it. It happened during a single, small brushstroke.
Size and Other Info
I don’t get to paint large very often because there just isn’t much room in my studio/office. But I LOVE doing it when I can. The other issue is where to put finished paintings while they’re waiting for a home? Well, I’ll just hang them on my own walls until they make their way into the world.
Title: Old Shed, Red Sunset
Size: 24 x 36″
Medium: Ozark pigments in oil (linseed & walnut)
Substrate: gesso board
While it’s on the easel (and this one will be on the easel for quite a while, I think) there’s a discount for pre-purchases. When it’s finished, varnished, and ready to ship I’ll send it at no extra charge to a US address. Currently, I don’t ship artwork internationally. If it’s unsold by the time it’s ready to go, then the discount goes away.
Watercolor version of similar scene
I painted this one years ago in watercolors, from a different photograph but with an equally stunning sunset. A collector friend of mine honored me by purchasing it a few years ago ❤ Notice the pole is still in this one, too.
A Little About My Paint-making Process
Since my paints are handmade and (mostly) locally foraged, I have to make sure I have the colors I need before I begin a project. If it’s a plant pigment, then I’ll need to harvest the plant and process it to make the pigment. The only plant sources I use at this time are thyme, and the root bark of Osage trees. The rest comes from foraged rocks, soot, bone, or purchased lapis and titanium dioxide powder.
Here’s a blog post I made earlier about making oil paints:
So, if it’s a rock, then I’ll break it to smaller pieces, then crush it as finely as I can. The crushed rock is the raw pigment. After that I put the powder into a jar and fill the jar with water. Depending on the source rock, I’ll either pour off the colored water into another jar to let it settle, or pour the rinse water out and keep the sediment for the paint. After the water clarifies and the pigment has settled, then I pour off the clear water and let the sediment dry. That is what I’ll make the paint from.
When it comes to plants, there’s more chemistry involved. I’ll make what is called a ‘lake’ pigment. Here’s a post that gives more information on that process.
I hope you love this earthy palette of color as much as I do! Thanks for reading ~ Madison
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