"Prairie Cloud Study 1" acrylic on canvas panel 6X8 inch.
It's Day 7 and I've changed gears to practice clouds and prairie scenes. I grew up in the middle of the Saskatchewan "flat" prairie. People always think it is pancake flat , but not so! To get to my folks farm, one must travel down a small incline (fairly small!) and in the far distance you can see on the horizon, a blue line of hills called the Coteau Hills, part of the geographical formation called the Missouri Coteau, one of Saskatchewan's driest areas.
View of the Coteau Hills from the incline to the Tansey farm.
I'm likely to continue on the landscape stream for the next week of the 30 day challenge. I really do need the practice. You can see the photo I used for my painting below. I'm still working on expressing colour and value to make my work "read" correctly. Mixing and painting interesting neutral colours is the key here, I think.
The clouds at the Tansey Farm this summer...the model for my painting.
I spent nearly 3 hours (yikes) shovelling snow yesterday just to keep the driveway cleared. Austin and I took a walk around the neightbourhood this morning and I took a photo of our local mountain Spion Kop, peaking through the clouds!
This photo below is looking towards Wrinkly Face Provincial Park, east of our house. We'll be off snowshoeing here this weekend I bet!
Towards Wrinkly Face
And its snowing as I write. In fact the Southern Interior of BC has a snow fall warning in effect. We are in for a BIG dump of the white stuff. Guess what I'll be doing in the morning, bright and early? Stay warm!
I love this. My friend Keith used to say the same thing about the prairies around his home - he was very adamant that they weren't flat, but there were HILLS! And when we saw it this summer, we saw that he was right. And that he was also right about the area around Regina - that part is flat. Total pancake. Connie Caldor has a song about "Sky With Nothing To Get In The Way" - that's SK. Great painting.
Thanks Ange! I knew you would appreciate the non-flat-ness of Sask after having visted there this summer! A few more prairie-ish paintings coming this week!
Louise
1/9/2013 02:46:28 am
Love the colour! Wonderful. Makes an Okanagan gal want to see the Prairies again. Can't wait to see what's next. You should get extra days per painting, though, cuz you're having to spend so much time shovelling snow!