A View from the Hearth Room

Room with a View

Tony and I have a raised ranch here in Ohio and there is a small hearth room off of the kitchen. It has windows on three sides looking out into our wooded back yard. We love sitting in there especially in the colder months, not only because of the fireplace but also because of the ever changing view. Tony puts out bird seed and critter mix so we love watching the wildife. The view faces west and we also enjoy the beautiful sunsets. One recent winter morning I was mesmerized by the view because the snow had melted but it was still very cold outside and it created a frosty fog in the woods. I decided I had to try to capture that on canvas.

Techniques

Back in my studio I toned my canvas orange and began with the background colors…………soft grays and browns with a tinge of warm reddish undertones. Then I began working on the low lying ground ‘fog’ beneath the trees that spilled out into the distance blurring the space beyond the woods. Next came the majestic tree trunks. Those in the foreground are bolder and darker and those in the mid ground are more gray and soft. Finally I added the details of the leftover autumn leaves that clung to the branches despite the winter storms and a small pile of rocks in the bottom corner as well as the hint of old greenery amidst the leaves on the ground. I left just a few peaks of the bright orange undertone to add some mystery to the foreground.

I had to decide on a name for my painting. I flashed back to the original feeling I had gotten looking out the window at the woods that morning and settled on ‘Pensive’.

This is a 36″ X 24″ X 3/4″ acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.