Church on the Hill

Church on the Hill
Oil on panel, 12x16
Defiance, Missouri

This charming old church is atop a hill in Defiance, Missouri, and can be seen from all directions.  It has such wonderful presence in the landscape, as if it has always been here.  Painting a larger size today, 12x16, I am playing with the colors of autumn.  The leaves have just started to turn in the last few days - only a few, as most are still as green as summer.  But these few colorful tints in the landscape are the promise of more to come, and certainly have me thinking of painting fall!  I pulled out my yellow green, only to find it was the wrong shade.  So, digging a little further, I found my favorite - a Grumbacher.  It has a pop that my other brands do not have.  I also found a small tube of Grumbacher white, and used it to load my palette.  Well, it is not my Winsor Newton!  The color was flat in comparison, and not what I would buy again.  Isn't it funny how we artists find very specific supplies that we like, and shun others without mercy?  I went back to my ultramarine blue for this one, after a month of using mainly my prussian blue.  I wanted to cool shade to play the warmer fall colors off of.  Lots of palette knife work on this one - juicy and full of impressionistic strokes!  I will be taking this one to Augusta this weekend!  This painting makes 627 in as many days and Day 17 in the 30 Day Painting Challenge.