There's No Place Like Home

Artist's Garden by John Clayton

You don't have to travel very far to find inspiration on Cape Cod. In fact I just walked out the front door and painted my own garden. I have painted this scene may time before but the roses looked so nice I couldn't resist.

I first started a small painting of this scene and then yesterday, started a large painting of my garden.

I mostly worked with my pallet knife. I had to used brushes because of the size. When I work anything larger than 16x20 I need to cover the canvas with a brushes. Using brushed helped to keep the masses simplified.

This painting is 24x24, I don't usually work on square canvas because they are too equal however it's all in the composing. With a little more work I can move the masses around so they are more balanced.

I also wanted to create a nice rich flow of the light throughout the painting. I recommend painting a smaller study first to decide on how you want to plan out the painting. This will keep your composition balanced, state your masses and help create the light key.

8x10 study for Artist's Garden

Here is the small study that I started the day before.