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Last week here at Haliburton School of Art and Design Advanced Individual Studies I painted a view  of the native perennial meadow from the little blue cabin in the meadow that we call the Cabernet. Here is the sketch and the painting:

Our mentor suggested that I might do a short series of these with doors and windows. Henri Matisse did a number of this type of composition. I guess if it is alright for Matisse , it is alright for me. 

For the second painting I channelled Matisse and painted a made-up view of the meadow from the cabin. I used a powerful value contrast to show the difference between the inside and the outside of the cabin. To simplify the composition, I left out the pathway around the meadow so it looks like you would be stepping out into the blooming flowers. The perspective of the table is also tipped. Here's the sketch and the painting:

The strong dark area is a low key blue and a high key blue in matching values. The water bottle matches value to the dark area as well but is in the low key complimentary orange colour. 

Within the dark area are 2 focal points— the white bottle cap and the very unrealistic orange binocular lenses. These are small areas with a lot of power to draw the eye because of the value and intensity contrasts. Together they balance the larger lighter area on the right that is very active but with lower intensity colours. 

In these paintings, I have scraped off the texture in the areas of the door and  window frame. It certainly changes the feel of the paintings. My shapes are painted flat over the texture (as in no contour) but these shapes are physically flat as well.  A little change.

Feedback welcome. Have a great week!    click here for to read previous blog posts from Haliburton and more.