Overlooking Sciscoe Creek Valley, April 19, 2021
The week before today’s featured painting, I painted a spring landscape, en plein air, from the exact same spot. I stood on a small ridge between two higher ridges on both sides with the creek flowing below. Let’s see what difference a week can make when spring is budding out.
Here is the painting from April 12, 2021:
One Week Later, April 19, 2021
So, a week later, I returned to the same spot and painted it again. The painting shows the progress of spring in the forest. More greens, more redbuds, more of a closed canopy. One cannot see as much of the distant hill as in the first painting. But, still a long way to go before the green leaves totally envelope the scene.
Field Notes
When I get back to the studio. I like to write my field notes from the expedition on the back of the painting. “April 19, 2021. 1:30-5:00 p.m., plein air oil painting, 64° – 67º, windy! Beautiful spring day. Sunny with some clouds. I didn’t tie Jack but kept track of him — called and beeped him regularly. So he and Tommy stayed nearby. Wandered some but came when called. Overlooking Sciscoe Creek Valley. Same view as a week ago.”
Painting Buddies
When I say the dogs “stayed nearby”, I mean they stayed within 500-600 feet. Since the forest was still so wide open, I could see them from a long way off as they played in the valley, near the creek. Tommy always stays pretty close to me and has never run off. He has really short fur and doesn’t like to be cold or wet. He is a terrier and I have found terriers to be “velcro” dogs. They stick to their human.
Jack, is another matter. He is a foxhound and is meant to be living in the untamed 18th century where he can run for miles and miles and never see a soul. George Washington kept foxhounds. They are ranked something like 899 in desirability out of 900 breeds of dogs. LOL! He is not an easy dog to keep! Everything I read, recommends 2-5 fenced acres to keep a foxhound on. Luckily, I have 5.5 fenced acres for him and he patrols every inch of it multiple times a day. And if there is a hole anywhere, he will find it.
I have trained him with an e-collar to come when I beep and call him. But if there is a hill between him and the transmitter(me), he doesn’t hear the beep. So I have to be pretty vigilant to know where he is and make sure he doesn’t get too far away.
Spring Landscape, Ten Years Apart
So, now, just for fun, let’s compare a 12″ x 24″ painting from ten years ago. I love to compare one season to the next. One year to past years. When was the peak of spring or fall? How did a certain spot look from one year to the next? From one season to the next?
One year, I scheduled a show in Jackson, Mississippi at the end of March or the first of April and thought, “No problem, I’ll be home in plenty of time for the peak of spring in mid-April”. Much to my dismay, we got some unheard of eighty degree days in March and spring arrived super early. I was scrambling to get out and paint while still getting ready for a show and being away for several days.
These two spring landscape paintings were painted exactly ten years apart on April 12, 2011 and 2021, respectively. While the paintings are not the exact same spot, they were both done along Sciscoe Creek about 1/4-1/2 mile apart.
Overlooking Sciscoe Creek Valley, April 12, 2021,
Plein air oil painting, 12″ x 24″.
Which painting do you like better? 2011? Or 2021? Why? Let me know in the comments!
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Thanks!
Happy trails,
Charlene
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