I said I would paint another barn and here it is. This time the sign on the barn isn't advertising Rock City, Tennessee. It is an advertisement for Royal Crown Cola. It is still sold these days, but now it's owned by Dr Pepper/Schweppes group out of Plano, Texas instead of being its own company.
I put together two of my photos to create this painting. The first photo is of a barn sitting downhill on a country lane, but I don't like the shape of the barn for my painting. The second has the barn I like, so I just inserted the second barn in the place of the first barn. Look at the two photos below and you'll see what I am talking about. Of course, I had to reverse the big barn and I added an extension on the side. I also added a small creek in the background. It came out looking very nice! I have the steps below for you to follow. Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy it!
This is the setting I am going to paint. As I said the barn is ok but I want to use the second barn you will see below. I like the shape better and it is actually the barn with the R C Cola sign. I made a couple changes to make it fit my idea and I am pleased with the final result.
I apologize for the lights in the picture, but you can see the barn. I took out the small shed in front and I reversed the position to fit into my setting. I just love the shape of this barn and of course the sign on the side!
Here you can see my drawing with the background started. The shape of the barn can be seen, and the road will head over the hill and to the left of the barn. The barns that were chosen for signs were usually right by the road or were in direct eyesight as you drove down the road for obvious reasons. I am making this an early fall scene so the trees are just starting to turn. You can also see that the field behind the barn appears to be a harvested field. All these things fit with a farm scene and the season.
Now I have the barn painted in, the grass on the left slope, and the road. Instead of having the sun coming from the right I decided to have it come from the left so I could emphasize the barn as the focal point and have sun stream across just in front of it. You can see where I started the sun path across the hill and road right at the barn. I think it will add drama. I used burnt sienna with a touch of ultramarine blue for the shaded side of the barn and Grumbacher red for the sunlit side toned down to make it look aged. I made the grey for the tin roof using T. white with a touch of U. blue & Burnt sienna. I typically use Cad yellow and Phthalo blue to make my green and add a little yellow ochre. I add some white to make it lighter if needed.
Now I've added the large cedar trees on the left using Hooker's green deep as they need to be very dark. The trunks I mixed using burnt umber, U. blue and white. You can see the creek on the right and I added in the white fence. This type of fence is very popular and I like the look. I have brought up the color and brightness of the trees behind the barn as well as the grass by the barn. Notice I put small strips of light between the trees on the left. The fence is bright along the sunlit area and darker in the shade. All of this adds to the drama in the painting which in turn adds to the realism. Do you like the Royal Crown Cola sign? It takes a really small brush like a script liner to do! It is slightly fuzzy as is fitting with age. I used phthalo blue in the sky, shadows and the road to tie the painting together.
I have everything painted in and added the oak trees on the right. I have yet to finish out the cedar trees on the left with more detail, etc. I also added a little more color to the background trees on the hill. I put in some rust on the tin roof and put doors on the barn. With acrylics, you must add several coats of your highlight color as they dry darker and duller. But once you are used to doing that it isn't a problem. One nice thing about oils is that they hold their color when they dry and they are more luminous than acrylics. Many acrylic artists coat their dry paintings with gloss finish or varnish then go over a part they want to emphasize with oils. An example would be moonlight, or lights at night. Of course, if you go over the entire painting with oils, then you can say it's an oil painting even though there are acrylics underneath. If you do oils on part of the painting, then you can say it's mixed media or acrylic/oil.
To see the final photo please go to my "AVAILABLE PAINTINGS" page and under Collections: Nostalgia. Thanks!
This painting is with me at the Art Show on September 13th in Paris, Ky. If you live in the area come on over to the Hopewell Museum at 800 Pleasant Street, from 5 - 8 PM. I'd love to meet you!
