Plein Air 9-3-14

When I go out to paint stuff in the landscape, I don't merely find an old tractor and say, hey I'm going to paint an old tractor. I stare at the scene and squint and figure out what really drew me to the scene. I think about the underlying abstract design and value structure of the scene. What drew me to this scene was the dark arc of shadows that arc up from the left connecting the lower parts of the tractor up and through the shed. I liked the way this was balanced with the grain bins and how they also tapered down in size from left to right. When I did this piece I thought there was a lot of chroma (bright colors) for me but when I took a look at it when I converted to black and white I thought the values (lights and darks) held up very well. 14x18, oil.