The Fence

My son bought an old farmhouse in Vermont several years ago. The front of the house was very close to the road - I understand now...that is because you don't have to shovel a long driveway! However, I was concerned about small children playing outside until I saw the picket fence.

It was a picture book fence enclosing a small garden - with flowers everywhere. I took lots of photos. A few weeks ago as I was going through old photos, I rediscovered the fence and thought it would be fun to paint.

I began with an ink sketch.

Next step was adding a watercolor wash.

In my original photos, the fence was close to the house and the lattice under the front porch could be seen behind some of the flowers. I added that and began to put in more color.

Yikes! It got very busy and my eye kept being drawn to the lattice - not the fence. I tried washing it off, but of course, I was stuck with this...

Gotta get rid of the lattice! So, I began again. 

This time I left out the lattice entirely and just put in the fence and greens.

That's better - I liked the different greens with the yellow in the center. Now it needs more color.

I have to have red somewhere in my paintings... flowers peeking around the fence gives it some movement and life.  Just a little more tweaking... as in lifting some of the very dark greens behind the fence (it moves it backward), detailing the grasses in the front, (keeps me more focused on the fence), adding depth and finishing touches to the pickets (it is about the fence, after all)...and a bit of a crop (didn't need the other piece of fence going off to the right).

Voila!

I love looking back on the process. I learned a lot on this one!