Wide Winds Winnowed Sweet

Hey, there. 

I've been away for a while.  But that's because I've been making things!  And traveling!  So...enjoy the upcoming posts of some works while in progress.

Here's a biggie.  

I think I started working on this one back in March.  I took advantage of a nice day or two before it got cold again to paint this 48 x 48 inch piece.  I first primed it, then spread on a thick layer of blues.  While the paint was wet I dragged an old brush through it to give some texture.

Close up.

I painted it a light blue/white and sanded it to reveal the texture better.  Those steps were not recorded (sorry).

Blue and green were calling out to me, but when I started I ended up adding the colors in too-thick of blocks.  So after a while of putting on orzos, I actually peeled many off and shuffled the colors more.

Kinda blocky going from light green, green, blue, to light blue.

 Maybe you can tell from the photo that I mixed them up more.  I just know I spent a lot of time putting on things and then peeling them off and putting on more.

Finished piece, "Wide Winds Winnowed Sweet"

detail

The title comes from a poem called "A Challenge to Youth" by Willard Wattles, 1916...

"Lo, this is the song I shape you, a song for the strong and fleet,
A sword for the arms that wrestle with slippery shocks of wheat,
A flag of the dreams of Kansas by wide winds winnowed sweet."

There's a lot of military imagery in the poem, and dichotomies between cities and the prairie, and I am not a literary critic, so I won't be breaking it down.  Honestly, I just like the idea of sweet winds blowing around tree limbs.