Green Doors, Knox Farms

Green Doors, Knox Farms
Acrylic on Gessobord
8”x10”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale, click to bid in the auction.

These doors are part of what I believe were stables at Knox Farms in East Aurora NY. I was attracted to the colors of the building, and the way they contrast with the green doors.

I created a pencil sketch on the gessobord and then I used thin washes of acrylic to create a watercolor look. Thicker acrylic paint was used in a few locations such as the gray wood. I enjoyed painting the glass windows and the light blue reflections of the sky.

Red Barn

Red Barn
Acrylic on Gessobord
8”x10”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale.

In this painting I used the fence to create a sense of depth. A principle of perspective drawing is  objects get smaller and less defined as they recede into space. For example, the fence post that is closest to us is clearly defined and contains a lot of detail but the ones in the distance are many times smaller and aren't detailed at all.

I enjoyed working with the color in this painting, I used the blue/purple of the shadow side of the fence to contrast with the yellow of the field. I like how the barn provides a small touch of red to the painting.

Barns

Barns
5”x7” acrylic on gessobord
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale, click to view the auction.

Knox Farms has a number of old barns and I was struck by the contrast of the red barn against the white building. I used mostly cool neutral colors for the roof with a few warm colors to make it interesting. The majority of this painting was created with thin washes of acrylic with a few areas of thicker opaque paint on the white building, and the green foreground areas.

Tractor II

Tractor II
5”x7” acrylic on gessobord
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale, click to view the auction.

I enjoyed working on the first painting of this tractor so I decided to do another one. The tractor appears smaller in this one because I included more of the landscape. I used a combination of thin washes of acrylic for the sky and the trees in the distance. I saved the thicker, more opaque paint for the tractor and the foreground areas.

Tractor

Tractor
5”x7”
Acrylic on gessobord
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is for sale, click to view the auction.

I recently visited Knox Farms and I noticed this tractor was parked in the middle of the field, as if someone wanted to show it off. I took advantage of this opportunity and took a few pictures of it from various angles; I love it when people set up scenes for me to paint. Mechanical objects have a variety of interesting shapes, colors, and textures to paint, so they make good subject matter.

Sunday Walk (SOLD)

Sunday Walk
Acrylic on Gessobord
8”x10”
Chris Breier © 2015

(Painted on archival gessobord, 1/8" thick)
Knox farms, located in East Aurora, N.Y., is a nice place to walk during the summer. The trees on this road create a shady tunnel to walk under which provides some much needed relief from the sun. I took many of pictures of this area, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied with them. I felt that they were missing something but then I spotted a couple taking a walk at the end of the road and I knew that this would make the painting.