First Promise of Spring

"Beyond Repair"  • 10" x 7-1/4" • Oil
Copyright 2011 Debra Joyce Dawson

Now that gas prices are up, I am searching harder to find new venues that are fairly close to where I live; or, I am hoping that as I drive past my favorite painting places, that I will find something new to say about what I see. Last week, I out to paint this distant view of an old green house that I discovered one morning about two years ago.

On that day in 2010, I was scouting the smaller roads in Harrison Township for something that really grabbed me. I found it! But I didn't feel comfortable parking with half of my car on the roadway in order to avoid one of the deep drainage ditches that run along both sides of most of the roads in this area. I did stop long enough to make a small line sketch of the place with a fine sharpie marker, and just blacking in the darks of the shadows. Each time I'd come across that little drawing, I'd feel the excitement that I felt that day, and I knew that someday I would have to get back out there to paint.

It happened on March 16. And then I got rained out, so I went back out same time on St. Patrick's Day to finish. This is a scanned image and the color and some values aren't totally correct, but it's enough to give you an idea of the painting. I certainly did enjoy painting this.