I fought the color and the color won

Shady Road © 2009 by Karen Mathison Schmidt
6 x 6 • acrylic on Gessobord

SOLD • private collection, Salem, Massachusetts

Well, when I came to the easel this morning, I had the idea that I was going to tone down some of the color intensity of this fauve-a-licious little picture. When I started painting, however, the colors stubbornly insisted on remaining bold and bright.

As you can see, I decided to pick my battles and let the color have its way in this one. (Yeah, that’s it ... I let the color win.)

Here are some close-up details, and following that are some more photos I took during my walk around the park on Wednesday. What a glorious day!

Ye Old Homestead

Homestead ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt

18 x 24 x 1 • acrylic on 1" cradled Gessobord

SOLD • private collection, Trophy Club, Texas

We pass this house every time we drive into town. We used to think it was abandoned, but someone is keeping the little lawn mowed, then we found out it’s owned by the family that lives just across the highway from it. I think they use it for an office for their farm operation. I love the way it looks – a house with a little yard surrounded by giant pecan trees, right out there in the middle of the hayfields.

My idea for this one was for the focal point, the house, to be the most detailed part of the painting, with the foreground, the tall grasses that grow out by the highway, to be very impressionistic, almost abstract. I used brushes and painting knives on this, and layer upon layer of color to develop the wildness and texture of the foreground.

Here are some details: