"Gone to Pot", 18" x 36", oil on canvas

I have too many things going on right now, it’s just the way it is. I realized when I was getting stressed out by it that I was doing it to myself. Yes, there are demands which I cannot control but even some of those are of my own making because of my choices. So, I’m working a little harder on that whole one day at a time, and one thing at a time concept. What I have fallen behind in most of all is my painting. That should be the last thing so I need to re-evaluate my thought process, and I will, when I have a minute.

I did however manage to complete a painting I had been wanting to get to for quite some time. It was from  a photograph I’d taken last Autumn. I’d met a friend to go out and paint with, but we decided to go out to lunch and just go around and take pictures instead. The weather was a bit too cold and it was windy, wind is a plein air painter’s worst enemy. I like strong sun for the shadows and high contrast it brings and this day had that going for it. Now, if I see something I want to paint I will do what it takes to get that picture, just how I want it, it could just be getting a little older we do tend to loose some of those inhibitions.

Bowerbird and Friends Antique Shop, Depot Square, Peterborough, NH

The subject was a row of flower pots and planters on a couple of plank tables outside Bowerbird and Friends Antique Shop. They were behind a little iron fence. I went into the shop to ask if I could go in there and take some photos. The nice lady happily opened the gate for me. Between the random nature of the items, the strong sun and the barn board type wall that were up against, it really grabbed me. So far I’ve completed two paintings from that set of photographs. I think I may just have one more to do as well.

As has become my process, once I’ve completed a painting I post it on Facebook for feedback. It was fortunate that I followed my process with this painting too. One of the posts was from the owner and from that came the opportunity to hang my painting in her shop. So, “Gone to Pot” 18″ x 36″, is now hanging at Bowerbird and Friends Antique Shop, Depot Square, Peterborough, New Hampshire.