Teton Flour Mill
Kara and I were driving to work and Kara noticed these patches of purple and pink scattered all over the neighbor’s pasture. She said “This is where we need to paint”. There is a short time in the spring when the grass hasn’t grown tall and the common mallow is blooming. This creates a beautiful combination of colors and with the Teton flour mill as a back drop I had to agree. “This is where we need to paint.”
We set up our easels next to the fence line where the road access meets the gate. Our presence stimulated the cow’s curiosity and they meandered over to say “hi”. Our neighbor raises Charolais cattle and they are big white, and gentile. Most of the cows had new born calves at their side and it made for an entertaining morning just watching the livestock.
Our biggest challenge was painting facing the sun. Although the sun was high, it shadowed and back lit much of our background making a silhouette. Kara also had trouble creating the illusion of height along the canal bank. In our hurry to paint, I also feel we didn’t spend enough time on composition. Kara wanted to capture the pasture, and the colors so much that her background ended up a little top heavy. I feel that my composition needs better lead in lines, and perhaps I needed a little more time on my background as well. I want to go back just to paint one of those brown eyed calves with the long eye lashes.