Hay bales

Hay bales
Oil on board
15x12 inches

This was a recent work completed en plein air, again using a combination of brushes and painting knifes. I love the texture contrasts that you can acheive this way. The brushes allow a degree of control and you cannot help but paint loosely and expressively with the painting knife.

I used deliberate colour contrasts in this one, starting with a cobalt violet under-painting, establishing the tonal contrasts and sketching out the composition. Yellow is obviously the complementary colour to purple/violet and I have deliberately left some the underpainting show through in spaces to enhance the yellows in the field. The blue/violet sky also deliberately complements the orange highlights in the field.

I almost never got to do this one as the farmer turned up as I was about to set up. He was not too happy having a stranger in his field, but when I explained what I was up to he got pretty excited about it. I promised him first shout at purchasing it, but by the time I finished it he was long gone and I could not find him.

Ryan