The Tale of the House on the Hill & My Whispering Pines Oil Painting

Whispering Pines is an oil painting that measures 12 x 24 inches. I wanted to paint a loose abstract painting with my palette knife, having fun with color and paint moving across the board. The house on the hill had another idea. It required me to draw in perspective. Uh oh. Both my drawing and perspective skills had gotten little use over the years. I watched Youtube videos to learn these skills before returning to the painting.

In process photo
Whispering Pines
12 x 24 inches
Oil on MDF

The view out my living room window in Camp Verde, Arizona is captivating. All my window views are spectacular. They offer me a 360-degree mountain view. It's an artist's paradise.

I have painted many scenes from those window views while living here since January 2017. The featured painting is one of them.

While painting the house, I wondered about its inhabitants. Who were they? What did they do? Did they know I was making a painting of their home?

Whispering Pines Oil Painting
12 x 24 inches

My answer to who lived in that house came last month while walking past it one day. I've walked past their home many times, but nothing. Then one day it happened! On that day, a man whizzed out of the driveway, passing me on his bike. I noticed a rolled up paper on the back of it. He kept bicycling which gave me no time to say, "excuse me, who are you?"

As luck would have it, on my return walk, he was coming from the opposite direction, slow enough where I could get his attention. The rolled up paper was my conversation starter. He was an ex-mayor of Camp Verde. The document was a legal document having to do with ensuring Camp Verde's water rights.

I whipped out my phone to show him a photo of the painting of his home I had done. He was impressed. He told me that he loved it. He asked if I could send him a link that he could show his wife. I did, explaining that I would be glad to show it to them in person someday, and that was that. I haven't seen or heard from him since. But, it was fun to meet and chat with the owner of the house on the hill I see every day and now have captured in paint.

This painting was a joy to paint. I did have fun with color, abstraction, and moving the paint-loaded palette knife across the board with pleasure.  It asked more of me as a painter. I've got my work cut out ahead of me to hone the craft of drawing and perspective. It's a challenge I welcome. I know my painting will be better for it.

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