"Inverno" - winter landscape painting

Painting is 7” x 11” framed to 11” x 14”

I sometimes overthink and agonize over possible subjects and compositions. This painting is one of those compositions that required lots of thinking, consideration and even some fear.

The main idea was to catch bright warm winter morning light. Placement of the main barn was one source of agonizing since its location has it facing out the left edge. I

t is one of those sort of unwritten rules to not have a main subject seeming to facing out of the picture plane, lest it draw the eye away from the scene as well. The effect is muted with two trees - one of which crosses over the ‘face’ of the barn building, the other has a lot of visual weight and vertical direction that catches the eye if it is indeed traveling out of the picture plane.

As mentioned, it is a painting that I avoided taking on for quite some time. There are two studies of the scene and composition in one of my sketchbooks. They have been there for more than two years, beckoning me every time I browsed through the pages.

Finally, some warm sunshine and the prospect of warming temperatures was enough inspiration to overcome the thinking, fear and delay.