"Farmer Harvesting Hay with a Scythe"

8 x 6" oil/canvas panel - sold

Heres another painting I did using just what I could visualize.  No reference material.

Well, the hair was inspired by how my husband looked this morning :  )

I love historic farm paintings.  Especially ones where people are using their own labor to accomplish such important tasks as putting up hay for the winter.  It is true, as American farmers, we are more productive today than ever before in our nations history, but to what end?  It makes me sad sometimes, to think how far removed we are from the land.

Update...

28 x 36" oil on linen

sold

So...

I did a little more work on some of these values.  I think I got them where they should be.  Plus I adjusted some of the color and contrast in Photoshop to better match the painting.  For Mac users anyway.  Its kind of sickly yellow in Windows, but I'll try to correct that later for the website.  Usually I try for a happy medium.

Its hard to see everything going on in this little photo, so click on the image here if you'd like to see a larger version.  I'll try to post some more detailed images later.

Note:

So far this year, I've been able to dodge a fair amount of ranch work.  But today my husband is asking if I could spend a few days and help get the hay in.  So unfortunately, I won't be posting anything until next Monday.  It was bound to happen!  And really the timing is perfect, having just finished this major commission.  So have a great weekend everyone!  I'll see you next week.