Day 24 - Derry Edain Plein Air Day

 Good morning :)  Today's painting was done plein air of the Derry Edain horse farm in Cochranville.  It was a beauty of a day with the early Autumn colors just beginning to pop.  The highlight of the day was when the 2 horses who board on the property came galloping down to greet me and the white horse allowed me to pet her. She was such a gentle giant and not only that, but even bowed to me several times. I truly was honored to have been given this gift from such a beautiful and powerful animal.  White horse energy has been strong in my sphere for at least the past week. Yesterday's painting was one I created before the plein air expedition to the Derry Edain farm as I had the image galloping through my mind for several days..  Connecting with the beautiful white horse on Friday not only was an honor, but felt like an affirmation.  Later, I looked through my photos and realized that the sign flanking the driveway into Derry Edain has a woman in a dress riding on a white horse.  And, as I am writing this post, I looked up the address to the Derry Edain farm and just now realized that it is located onWhite Horse Road.  I do love when synchronicities like this pop up.. to me they are a reassuring nudge from the other side.. :) Scroll down to see pictures of the horses, the farm as well as some possible adjustments I could make to the painting..

Derry Edain, Oil, 11"x14", nfs

When you paint on location, you have to decide what you are going to include and what information is not necessary to your painting.  It is something that challenges me every time and this painting was no exception. After bringing it home and looking at it for awhile, I am thinking it may be better if I crop some of it off.  Since I paint on wood panel, this is something I can do relatively easily with my bandsaw, after the painting dries.  Below are 2 crops I could do. The first is a square and would measure 10"x10". The second is the painting cut directly in half and would measure 7"x11".  Something to ponder.. the question is, is the tree necessary to the story.  Is any of the right hand side of the painting necessary to the story?

Day 14 - Springdell Road

 Today's post is the other half of the diptych I painted deep in Chester County horse country. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I sometimes will put 2 panels up on my easel and paint them more or less simultaneously.  Those 2 paintings form a natural diptych as the palette, lighting and atmosphere are all the same.  I'll call this one Springdell Road, the name of the road just out of view in the foreground.

For fun, I did some photoshopping to see how the 2 paintings look together and framed and all sorts of ways.  Scroll down if you want to see too :)

Springdell Road, oil on panel, 8"x8", email me with interest

Day 13 - Snowhill farms

In keeping with yesterday's plein air theme, today's entry was painted during a recent day when I travel to West Chester.  The landscape in the area I travel to is dotted with natural preserves, horse farms and old estates and this painting was done of the back end of the Snowhill farms horse farm along the Southern edge of Chester County. Sometimes, if I'm painting small, I'll paint a diptych and paint 2 panels simultaneously ..this was one of those times and I painted two views of the same scene.. Below is the right half of the pair and I'll post the other half tomorrow :) That day, I was attracted to the warm grasses and interesting trees on the hill with a backdrop of the beautiful blue sky.. and the fence pattern running along the foreground. 

"Snowhill Farms, Springdell Road" oil on panel, 6"x8"

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Day 12 - Along the Brandywine Creek; Shaw's Bridge Park

 It's day 12 of this extra fun painting challenge and unfortunately I did not have the chance to paint yesterday (I have been ahead by a day or 2 so far, but with commissions and a visit to the surgery center yesterday, I've got some catching up to do..)  

Anyway, this painting is one I painted Plein Air a few weeks back along the Brandywine Creek in Chester County.  I found this very cool little park called Shaw's Bridge Park with beautiful trails, great views and amazing rock out croppings. I wish I knew what kind of rocks they are as they are quite unique.. kind of like Mica, but a studier structure - less flaky.  Just beautiful though. The trails through the park are just as stunning as the views of the creek so, needless to say, it was a day spent in near paradise.

I was attracted to this scene because of the abstract design.  The way the sky was reflecting in the water, patterns of reflections from the trees and that bird-like outcropping on the right.. all together posed a real challenge to me.  Plein air painting is a time for me is much more intense than studio painting and sometimes it feels like I am actually creating new synapses.  But, like yoga, after a day of painting outside from life, I always feel at peace and with a heightened sense of joy and some new nuggets of knowledge picked up from the experience. Here is my experiment from the day along with some pics of the beautiful areal. Enjoy!

Oh, and do scroll to the bottom to see a woman about to be beamed up on the trail... proof of aliens?

Along the Brandywine; Shaw's Bridge Park, 9"x12", oil on panel

contact me with interest here

Day 19 of the 30 in 30 - "Sugar Snow, Bethesda Church, Chester County, PA"

I have been painting mainly birds in one way, shape or form for the past 2 weeks or so...For a complete change of pace, I went out plein air painting yesterday. What a welcome and beautiful thing it was!  The original plan was simply to try to capture what may be the last snow of the season here in Pennsylvania.  My friend and I headed out to a historic little church called Bethesda Church, located near the historic Hopewell Furnace in Chester Co. PA.  I grew up a few miles from this pretty location, so I felt right at home. To top it off, it was a beautiful, mid forties day, the birds were out and the snow was melting hard. It was genuinely a perfect day for painting outside!  The beauty and simplicity of the scene and the Chester County-ness of this location were also perfect for my first plein air outing in awhile...  If you are a history buff and want to know more about this church and it's interesting history, check out  https://www.nps.gov/hofu/learn/historyculture/bethesda-chruch.htm

For details on purchasing this painting, click here or under the image.  

Sugar Snow, Bethesda Church, Oley, PA,  oil, 9"x12", to purchase click here