Channeling Kincade

Channeling Thomas Kincade...OK, maybe not exactly, but whenever I am presented with painting something as pretty as Carol's house and gardens, I think of Kincade. I don't dislike the recently deceased and seemingly troubled artist, as so many artists profess to. I actually liked a lot of his earlier pieces and I have a plein air book written by him that was given to me by my cousin. It has some extraordinary work in it. He started out doing plein air and painting from life. This is why his fantasy garden paintings have so much depth and realism in them. I mean, you know they can't be THAT pretty, but they're still realistic to the point where they COULD be! It's the whole commercialism and "painted reproductions" that left me shaking my head in disgust. People were fooled into thinking they had an original when it was just a printed canvas with some paint added to it. His death just proved another theory of mine I like to think is true: great wealth acquired too easily does not buy happiness. I would rather paint 100 paintings and sell them for $100 each than spend one week managing a business venture that offered copie of my paintings on clocks, teacups, toilet seats etc. You get the picture. The fun is in the doing.

Carol commissioned me to paint her house and surrounding area. It's a non-traditional painting in the sense that it is the BACK of her house. She has a pool, which can be seen with that tiny bit of blue beyond the entrance. She has flowers and statues and lovely trees. It was a challenge to find a place to stand that could really take in everything.

I began with a plein air painting in the late afternoon and took lots of photographs of the plants and architecture because I knew I couldn't finish it in one session and I would need the references to add the detail. The tree is right in the middle of the yard and it's right in the middle of my painting too so it was a challenge to break that unwritten rule of composition and make it work. But I think I did OK.

Carol's Paradise