Little Red Barn 9 '13

Little Red Barn photo

It seems that when it comes to plein air painting I am a bit lazy.  Or maybe, it is that I just don't like having to hunt for something to paint. Why waste the golden hour scouting unfamiliar locals, when one can just drive down the road and find something interesting  to paint?  The majority of my plein air paintings has been painted  on or near Highway 17. And I have a huge stash of reference photos to remind me of promising subject matter that  I have spotted in my travels along  this major coastal thoroughfare. 

Little Red Barn painting

 Case in point: The Little Red Barn is located on Highway 17 in Pawleys Island (across from Hobcaw Barony) . It is less than five miles from my house.  Waking up early in the morning to a stormy sky, I knew there was a high probability the barn would soon be awash in really dramatic light. I managed to capture the lighting on the barn and foreground  foliage before a  passing shower sent me packing. 

Like many of my plein air paintings, it is not a perfect rendition of the actual scene. In my rush to capture the dramatic light on the main subject, I  hurried through the sky and the background. The trees on the right were not fully completed before I had to leave. They look more like oaks than pines.  I haven't decided yet whether I want to leave those tree tops as is, or reshape their tops in the studio.  Most likely, this  little 9" x 12" will become the study for a larger studio painting.