Farm Painting - Bales Under a Summers Sky

I was inspired to paint this painting after passing a newly baled field of straw, on a back road along the way home earlier this year. There are not many old fence posts and fence lines left anymore around here, so I like to include them from my memories.

Purchase info and to see more of my current work that is for sale.

Painting Instead of Blogging

I have been busy painting and not getting around to blog for quite a while now.  I have been working on some larger pieces the past couple of months and now have been concentrating on a few smaller pieces too.  I enjoy working back and forth on several paintings at once, so that as one is drying I can work on another.  I sometimes will come to a stop on a piece and let it hang for days or even months before I decide how I would like to finish it.  Here is one of my recently completed larger paintings. 

Under the Big Dipper II Night Sky Painting

I have been working on a series of big dipper, night sky paintings and am currently working on IV right now.  The first three paintings in this series have already been sold.  Under the big Dipper II is shown below and I will be posting the next two of this series soon. 

White Barn and Patchwork Fields

The mid to late summer fields often make me think of an old patchwork quilt, when the wheat and oats ripen to a golden color among the green of the corn and soybeans, here in the Midwestern Heartland.   The purple of the sky makes me think of the old quilt top that my great grandmother had made and I found in my grandfathers trunk years ago and the white barn of my other grandfathers farm.  The canvas wrapped sides of this piece are painted to match, so that no framing is needed!

Farm Portrait Painting of an Old Red Barn and White Farmhouse

This is a farm portrait that I was commissioned to paint recently.  This client wanted a simple scene of this lovely old Iowa farm, with its iconic old red barn and traditional foursquare style farmhouse.  They decided on including the large central tree that the drive runs around between the barn and farmhouse, under a blue summer sky full of  white clouds.  

Below are images of the rough sketch and a few views of the painting in progress.  

The painting is almost done at this point. 

Farm Painting under a Star Filled Sky

The inspiration for this piece comes from the big, wide open sky that I love so about the country.  I decided on painting the big dipper above this simple farm scene under a sky full of tiny stars.

Country Landscape Painting of an Old Midwestern Farm

This the most recent painting off of my easel.  I started this painting back in the winter, but then set it aside, as I was not sure what direction I wanted to go with it.  I looked at it one day in July and realized then what sort of farm landscape scene I wanted for it!  I sometimes do this with a painting and am always happy when the full idea finally comes to me.  I went with one of those blue sky days with a sky full of those "big marshmallow clouds", as a friend once described them in one of my paintings.  Just the kind of beautiful summers day that I love so much in the heartland! 

Horse Painting - Across a Quiet Pasture

I came across these horses in a quiet, secluded pasture several years ago.  I painted them into a scene from my imagination earlier this year.  This piece is one of my paintings from the quiet and peaceful American heartland. 

More of my original country landscape paintings.

Country Landscape Paintings - American Road Trip Farm Paintings

 

Thank you to Ugallery for featuring my farm paintings in their new curated art collection "American Road Trip"

American Road Trip - Country Landscape Paintings 

A COUNTRY MILE

Serene in the expanses of the American Heartland, Sharon France paints captivatingly simple and bucolic landscapes that express the idealism of farm life. Through clear tripartite compositional divisions – background, mid-ground, and foreground – she creates a harmony throughout her canvas.

“I love to travel through the back roads of the American heartland during the summer. The young rows of corn and soybeans look like long ribbons of green with the dark brown Midwestern soil between them. By midsummer, fields of oats and wheat ripen to a beautiful, light golden-brown color. The combination of the corn, soybean fields and pastures, make me think of lovely old patchwork quilts. I find endless inspiration for my paintings on the back roads of the American Heartland.” 

Sharon

Red Barn in Patchwork Farm Fields

Barn in the Patchwork Fields

 I really like how the farm fields in later summer and fall start to take on a "patchwork" effect as crop colors change as they ripen. This farm painting was inspired by that look, and was recently sold to a collector in TX.

Little Barn Painting Study

Red Barn Along the Fence Line

A little farm study painted on a 5 x 7" archival hardboard panel.

Purchase info. on this and many more of my original farm paintings. 

 

Across the Quiet Pasture

 Across the Quiet Pasture

Close up views of the painting.

This large original painting is done by myself, Sharon France.  My inspiration for this painting came from the horses that I found in a rural pasture a couple of years ago.  I painted them into a  quiet country scene from my imagination.  This piece measures  18" x 14" x .75 and is done in acrylic on stretched canvas.  The sides of this gallery wrap canvas are painted to match and it is wired to hang, so that no framing is necessary.  

More info. on this painting. 

Red Barn in a Country Landscape

The Old Red Barn

 

Close up view of the painting.

I especially like to find an old barn with a cupola on top of it.  This one is from my imagination and was inspired by an old barn on the backroad, that we occasionally take to another town.  I decided on a traditional white farmhouse to paint into the farm scene with it, with a suggestion on distant farms on the horizon.  

Purchase info. and more of my original farm paintings.

      

Modern Farm Paintings

Old Farm Under a Pink Sky

5 x 7" on archival hardboard panel.   

I am in the midst of working on a series of little country landscape paintings right now.  These study paintings are from memories and thoughts that I have of old country farmsteads.  I use them to work out ideas to possibly use for my larger canvas paintings. 

I have loved the country as far back as I can remember.   I look forward to painting and the peace that I find in it.  I hope that you may find that in viewing my original art work also. 

This painting has already been sold.  

Little Country Farm

For purchase info and to see more of my farm painting please visit the link below.

Farm Art Originals 

My Country Landscape Blog has moved over to my web site now.

Thank you so much for stopping by my art blog.  I moved it over to my web site last year and have continued it there.  If you would like to visit and see what I have been posting since earlier last year, please visit my new blog link below.   

Francegallery.net   Art Blog

 

  Abstract Farm Under a Yellow Sky

 

 Red Barn - Yellow Fields      Sold

 

Here are two recent slightly abstracted, farm landscape paintings, that I have completed.  I have ideas for several more floating around in my head to work on in the near future too.  

 

Sunset Farm Landscape on the Artful Home

One of the things that I love about the very flat land that can be found in the Midwest, are the great sunset and sunrise views.  They are the inspiration for my new series of quiet rural sunset sky scenes. 

 

 

 

I am now also represented by the Artful Home.

 My first painting in my new country sunset series "Sunset Over the Old Farmstead" is now available there.

Gothic Farmstead Painting in Progress

 

As I was working on this painting I stopped to take a few photographs along the way to show some of the step by step progression.  I first paint in the sky and then land area on a painting in 2-3 layers of paint.   After that I will sit and look at the canvas at that point and envision what I will paint into the scene.  I usually have a fairly good idea in my mind before this, but often when viewing the base layers on the canvas, I may decide to go a different direction that I had original thought!    

 

 

I paint in the clouds and the Gothic style farmhouse, red barn and shed here, deciding upon spacing and placement of them on the canvas as I do so. 

 

 Gothic house as the first layer blocked in. 

 

 

 Old red barn and shed with the window areas darkened in and roof shading here. 

 

 I have now added the dark areas of the windows and front door at this point and have started on the roof color layers and shading also.  

 

 

 

 

 The land area has had multiple layers of brush work added now and a little flock of sheep painted in now also.   Last fall I photographed part of a flock of sheep out grazing in a rural pasture about 10 miles from here.  The sheep first came up along the fence to see if I had anything for them to eat and after hanging around for a while, wandered back out into the pasture again.  

 

  

 

The full completed painting measures 24 x 36" on stretched canvas. 

 

I love the views of the big blue Midwestern sky that we have here in the heartland.  We live in a very flat area and you can see for miles around.  Great for watching storms come in!  It has been a very long winter here, as many people in the U.S. have experienced this year.  I love to think ahead of the warm spring and summer days ahead.  This painting makes me think of those perfect summer days with a light breeze and puffy white clouds overhead!  

 

My web site to see this and more of my original landscape paintings.

Poppy Farm Painting currently on exhibit in Harrisonburg VA

In the Red Poppy Field

12 x 24" acrylic paint on stretched canvas.  

We are getting into my favorite time of year here in the Midwestern Heartland.  The newly planted fields are just starting to show rows of new corn coming though, against the beautiful rich black, prairie soils that we have been blessed with here in this part of the Midwest.  I love the clouds that float along our lovely blue summer skies, casting shadows across the fields as they go by.  Although poppies are not a crop grown in this part of the country, I love adding them to by farm scenes to go along with my iconic old red barns.  

If you happen to be on the east coast, this painting is currently on exhibit in Harrisonburg, VA at the Park Gables Gallery - VMRC, annual Juried Art Exhibition, until Sunday, June 30, 2013.  This piece was also previously exhibited at the Freeport Art Museum in Freeport, IL.

Devon Cattle Painting from France Gallery

Best Buddies

My newest painting, done in soft pastel, on thick museum grade pastel paper, shows two steers of the Milking Devon Breed of Heritage Cattle.  This was a very early breed of cattle to arrive here, as early as 1623.  This breed was known for their "speed, intelligence, strength, willingness to work" as draft animals for the early colonists, in the U.S.  The two steers that I used as the models for this painting, live an good life at a Farm Museum here in the Midwest. 

To view more of my original paintings please visit the link below. 

Click to view more of Sharon's art work.

 

Out for a Wander - Merino Sheep

Out for a Wander

 Close up views of painting.  

 I chose a Merino sheep ram for the main subject of this new painting.  I love the spiral horns on the rams of this breed of sheep.  They are "regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep".   I have painted this ram in one of my contemporary farm scenes, under a quiet blue summer sky, with an old red barn, and sheds in the background.  

 One of the known early paintings of a Merino sheep is the "El Buen Pastor" ( or The Good Shepherd) painted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, in about 1650.  This piece shows a young shepherd boy and a ewe. 

My web site: FRANCE GALLERY

 

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