February | 2023 | my90acres

Monthly Archives: February 2023

Country living

Posted on February 26, 2023 | 6 comments

What do you think of when you hear the word country?

For some, it might refer to a nation but I’m thinking of a place a little closer. For many it means a state of mind, an attitude not a specific place.

For me the term refers to a rural place, a landscape. An escape from or to. Getting back to nature. A walk in the woods. A bench in the park, or even a geranium on the window sill.

Country is a feeling, an attitude, a breath of air. The first daffodil or garden tomato. Watching a tiny spider try to climb a blade of grass. Or the cute tree frog plastered to the window at night, staring back at me with his big eyes.

I live in the country, or what many people think of when they hear that term. With fields and woods, streams and private places. In a very very old house which still echoes with the laughter of children from long ago and more recently.

The walls are a foot thick and not one of them is exactly perpendicular. And that’s OK; neither am I these days.

The best compliment I’ve ever received was from my great Aunt Catherine who was visiting many years ago. She was sitting in an old wingback chair with some music playing softly in the background. The windows were flung open to catch the breeze and she remarked, This house is just so comfortable. And isn’t that what anybody wants their guests to feel? Comfortable?

Logs used in the front half of the house. Notice the adz marks on these hand-cut beauties.

No matter where we live now, most of us are only a generation or two from the country life. Fortunately we can still experience a taste of country with that pot of tomatoes on the deck or the geranium in the window. Take a walk in the park. Feed the birds. Just sit in the shade and tune into nature’s sounds.

Frequent visits to my grandparents as a child planted the seeds of my love for the country life. Collecting still-warm eggs from the chickens. Playing with cousins in the hayloft. Giving that mean old sow a wide berth. Living on that little farm in the county was always a dream of mine.

My husband and I realized this dream thirty-five years ago when we actually bought the farm at auction. That resulted in a lot of work to bring the old place up to date. We were much younger then and had watched way too much of This Old House. Ha ha. Not quite so easy. Add a twenty-five mile commute to work (and the grocery). But it’s been fun through the years with lots of rewards (and some trials).

I love the version of country that I’ve been living for the past couple of decades but I also realize that you may have a different version. Do you decorate with simple hand-made furniture and quilts? Or put your green thumb to work on those patio plants? Maybe you can walk down to the ocean shore or river to check out the wildlife? Or are you a birder, waiting in a swamp for the first rays of dawn in order to photograph those cranes that are passing through?

What does your country look like? Is it comfortable?

Beams in the kitchen. Each plate is a family memory.

6 Comments

Posted in country living, garden, old house, opinion

Tagged country living, gardening, indiana, kit miracle

Foggy Morning, East Field – a painting how-to

Posted on February 12, 2023 | 8 comments

Initial sketch and color notes. Notice that I trimmed back my initial sketch to eliminate some of the trees on the left.

Recently I posted some photos that I took of a very foggy morning out here on the farm. The atmosphere of the scene has been nagging at me so I’ve been wrestling with some ideas. I’ve done several sketches, including some color sketches in both watercolor and acrylic. It seems the most challenging part to me is to tone back the color as I like to use bright colors so much. Fog is basically various shades of grey. I’ve cut back the color in the foreground and added more grey tones.

One of several preliminary paintings testing the color scheme of Foggy Morning.

First I prepared the canvas which was already gessoed. In this case, I sanded it, added another coat of gesso which I texturized with a soft cloth. After this dried, I gave it a wash of a very pale but slightly warm tone. This would be my underpainting. Then I drew the image on the canvas.

I don’t usually use a wide variety of paint colors as you can see in the image above. I rarely use a commercial green, instead preferring to mix my own shades of green from the limited palette. There are only seven colors plus white. I also use an acrylic modeling paste which adds more texture. A matt medium cut with water is my mixing medium.

First I mixed several shades of grey and started with the trees, then worked my way down through the field, adding more color as I reached the foreground. I really had to keep reminding myself to focus on the foggy grey tones and not add too much color. Then I added some more notes in the tree line. The sky was painted with a very pale grey leaving some of the warm undertone showing through. The hint of the rising sun through the fog was actually an accident but I liked it so I left it in.

Toned canvas with first layers of paint.

Then it was just a matter of adding the trees, darker in front, lighter in the distance. Not too many details but enough.

I’m not sure if I’m done yet so I think I’ll let the painting rest for awhile. I’m working on a companion piece so we’ll see how well that one comes out and if I’ll need to make adjustments.

Foggy Morning, East Field 18 x 24, acrylic on canvas. Kit Miracle

I guess the lesson here is to learn restraint. For me it’s with color, also perhaps too much detail which can be a hazard for many artists. I’ll probably do some more tweaking before I call this finished. I’m always interested in feedback so let me know what you think.