The story behind the art: Raindrops

New Art!

Introducing my latest creation titled: “Driving Through Rural America While Raining Before The Windshield Wipers Are Turned On.” You may call it “Raindrops 01” if the title is a little too lengthy.

Where did this painting idea come from? Well, it came as a class demo. Having created several landscapes in acrylic, we decided to explore something a little different, a little more unique. What if we created a landscape… but put it behind a glass that was filled with raindrops? Now it was no longer just a landscape. Now it was a landscape with a story waiting to be told.

It also demanded that the landscape eschew away from your standard sunlit, shadow dominated traditional landscape, and to push ourselves into a muted palette with low contrast.

Now granted, we did not paint this from life. I suppose that would be challenging to sit in shotgun with my canvas resting on the dash as I try not to get paint all over the rental.

Back when we were younger, and my health a little more stable, Cherish and I used to take several trips. Cherish is diligent in taking a ton of great photos. This particular trip was no exception, and she captured that moment of cresting the hill as we look off into the distance of a misty environment in rural America.

Where is this place? It can be anywhere (well, anywhere East of the Mississippi. Colorado and the West look nothing like this). This happens to be in rural Massachusetts. But it could just as well be in Amish Pennsylvania.

My process was simple. Paint the landscape. Then paint the raindrops.

I wanted to include a lot of detail in the landscape, but I had to remember that whether it was the camera or the eye, if the raindrops are in focus, the background behind them would not be. I did what I could to make the landscape recognizable, but to keep the edges soft and the details minimal.

Then I painted raindrops. I might give a whole video tutorial on how I did the raindrops, but here is something to keep in mind. The raindrop refracts the light in such a way that it is an upside reflection of what is in front of it. Thus, if the sky is light and the ground is dark, then in the raindrop the bottom will be light and the top will be dark. Vary the size and position of all the raindrops for visual interest, and really, it isn’t too complicated.

This painting feels like there’s a story about to emerge. What do you think it is? What thoughts or feelings come to your mind as you look at it? Feel free to let me know.

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