Two Barns

The spring session of my watercolor class started a week ago. It was fun to see all of the continuing students again plus a couple of new people. As usual, the first couple of classes cover materials and basic techniques, mostly for the new students, so I was free to work on whatever I wanted to. Anticipating this, I looked through a lot of our photos for ideas. I've always liked pictures of old barns, so I found several shots of barns that might work. I suppose that old barns could be seen as kind of an artistic cliché, but that doesn't bother me. I'm just painting for the fun of it and I don't care whether anyone takes it seriously.

This one was based on a shot I took last fall when I was on my way to Black Diamond Mines Regional Park for a hike. It's on Sommersville Road just before the park entrance. I think it turned out pretty good. It's really more about the feeling of being in the dry hills than about the barn.

This one is at Garland Ranch Regional Park in Carmel Valley, when we were there last fall. We like to spend a few days at a friend's cabin near Big Sur, and we often go to Garland Ranch because it is one of the few places in that area where we can walk with our dog. Most of the other places to walk are state parks which don't allow dogs on trails. I think this painting turned out pretty good too (meaning that it came out like I intended, which is often not the case with my watercolors).