Painting is Like Writing

My Familiar 9x11 Pastel available $75.00

Writers will tell you to write what you know.  If you are writing about something you are familiar with and have experienced first hand, your story will become all the more believable.  It is the same with painting.  If you choose to paint a scene that you know inside and out, your painting will reflect that connection, and you paint more from the heart than from the head. 

I chose this scene to begin the New Year.  This is my backyard, and being a city girl by birth, I appreciate every square inch of it.  I find solace and peace when I'm sitting by the stream or walking in the woods, watching the birds or photographing the wild turkeys and deer. I even have a heron that can be spotted now and again walking up and down the stream. I have 6 acres of woods and this beautiful little stream runs along the entire property line.  An interesting fact about my woods, and something I am most honored to share is that my backyard runs along one of Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad routes. It is so very interesting to me that Harriet Tubman walked this very scene and walked the same paths through my woods that I enjoy today.  

I decided to dedicate this entire month to only painting scenes from my property.  Heaven knows I have plenty of photographs to choose from.