Bay Hay, 12x16

Just up island....

......is an old structure that is a local landmark.  Post office, bakery, but mostly a plant and garden center with lots of stuff packed into its meandering spaces.  Cars and people and trucks and bicycles come and go all day picking up feed for the chickens, mail, coffee and pastry.  The orange cone is to protect the space for the mail truck.

It was surprising to me, with all that activity, how most of the time it looked just like this.  I couldn't predict if a vehicle might remain long enough to paint it.  I got a photo of a motorcycle and started to put it in but it just didn't fit somehow.  So you get Bay Hay & Feed inviting you to come in.

Painting wise, the problem was the moving sun.  The light on the left side lasted only about an hour so, after blocking in the shadowed side, I moved to resolve the light struck side as quickly as I could. Sky, clouds, trees, street all waited until I had the correct relationship between shadow and light and enough details whacked in just along that lit side.  Then, I did the rest.

Other than the incandescent lights showing inside, my favorite part is the crossing stripes and how they change color and their shapes move in and out with the soft edges.  Just to the left of the car is a purplish glow at the base of the trees.  There really was warmth there and I used it to draw the building hue into the rest of the painting.  Its also in the street and gently touched into the clouds.

Thanks for looking.  More soon.