Garden Shed

Diane Mannion, Garden Shed, 8x10" o/c

Imaginative Snapshot

Attracted to the light spilling through pine trees in my friend's backyard, I set up my easel and spent an hour or so capturing color notes.  Back in the studio I changed the garden shed door to blue instead of brown, simply to make a better painting.  The neighbor's cat was invented. 

Pushing my technique here: loosening up, exaggerating color, simplifying masses, using thicker paint and dramatic brushstokes, all in an effort to capture an impression of the light and heat I felt that afternoon.  Painted while listening to the canary and parrots on the porch, the chickens worrying in the coup, and the wind chime tinkering nearby.  This is not a "photographic" impression of the scene, but rather a feeling of the moment... a 50/50 plein air/ imagination, or an imaginative snapshot painting.

 Thumbnail sketch for Garden Shed

Photo of scene to illustrate how much I invented!  7.4 trillion more colors were seen while painting on location that do NOT show up in this photo.  Another reason to get out there and paint.