Decisions. Decisions.

Many years ago, long before I took up painting, I raced the #40, 1985 Porsche 911 shown here. This is in a turn at Road Atlanta, with half of the field in front of me and the other half trying to get past me. What I liked about racing was that you had immediate decisions that needed to be made on the race track in real time. Did you know that on a road course like this, more passing is done under braking than under acceleration? So, to make that pass happen, it might take you 3 or 4 laps to set it up before you can execute it properly.

The same can be said for developing a painting. When I tell people that I’m an artist, one of the most frequent responses is, “I’ll bet that’s relaxing”. It’s not!

Think about one of those days, where your brain was working overtime. Or recall the end of the day after taking the bar exam or some other professional level test; you came home and were drained physically and mentally. Putting a painting together can be a lot like that.

In the barn scene below, I was not at all pleased with the grayed-down red barn. It was too lifeless. So I thought, ok, I’ll make it a white barn and hit the right side with a bright setting sun yellow-white. Then I turned the corner and cast the large side of the barn in shadow. Still just ho-hum. Nothing special. Then I saw the opportunity I was looking for; that small slot between the two roofs facing the sun allowed me to let that bright shaft of light to sneak between them. Now I had something that I thought was memorable! Decisions, decisions…..

Enjoy!

Rick