“Late afternoon in the poppies field.”
The heat of the summer is finally here. Long days, lots of sunshine, less wind, dry air and hot temperatures. After nearly half a year is summer. God knows for how long though. In this country summer can last anything from minutes to months. Let’s hope it will be months. I decided to go back to the poppies field, not knowing what to expect. I kept asking myself, whether there will still be some poppies left. I was worried that the dry hot weather might have killed them. But it was alright. Poppies are still there.
The field looks a bit tired, but still going strong. I arrived at the painting spot quite late, so I have had to move as fast as possible.
The palette was prepared earlier, before leaving house so the start was faster. I managed to concentrate and painted as fast as I could, despite of the small brushes. I started to develop a style of my own, which involves using relatively small round brushes, bristle to sketch the composition and apply the under paint and then soft sable to apply the thick paint. So, small brushstrokes with thick paint. This is my thing now. I used same colours as with the other poppies painting, the main difference being in the sky, because the sky today was much more calm and blue. I again didn’t use any medium, just turps. And I tried to depict more of the feeling of the place.
So, here it is:
“Late afternoon in the poppies field.”
Oil on linen.
30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).
