I got a very nice email a few weeks ago from Don Gray of Daily Art West, and after seeing his most recent painting I decided to feature a few of his works in today’s article.
Work Gloves was the painting that caught my eye. The texture is great, of course, but that bold, red trim is simply fantastic.
Most of the paintings that Don posts on his blog are small oil on masonite pieces (5″ by 7″), and unlike some daily painters I’ve come across, he seems to be selling quite a few of them.
These next few landscape and building paintings are some of my favorites from his collection. Before the Storm makes great use of fairly neutralized complementary colors with the red barn and ominous blue-gray sky.
I love the straight on shot of the barn without any hint of depth other than the corrugated facing and slightly overhanging roofline. And that thin, swooping wire actually balances the peak of the rooftop and visually keeps the building from looking like it’s leaning to the right.
Mission with Cypress is one of those simple-looking paintings which really highlight the subject matter. And a simple structure like this Spanish style mission needs no fancy brushwork or overstated compositions.
Showing the shadow face of the building is an interesting choice, but I think it gives the painting a more somber, settled feeling than if the focus was on the sunlit wall to the left. It also adds that window into the interior flanked by two trees, which is probably why this particular composition was chosen in the first place.
To finish it off, here’s another barn painting titled Clear and Crisp.
I think the best part of this painting is the golden straw that’s ever-so-tantalizingly brushed into the foreground. Its blue trailing shadows prove exactly what the title of this painting explains—the day is cold, clear and crisp, with sunlight and fresh air aplenty.
There’s so much color in this painting, and yet you might not notice it at first, since it all works together. Behind the barn are purple mountains way off in the distance underneath a bright blue sky. And notice the beautiful mauves and pinks in the barn too.
So take a few moments today and check out the rest of Don Gray’s art at his painting blog. They’re definitely worth a look.
