Across the field

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

This is a view across a nearby field on property owned by the Brattleboro Retreat, a local institution in Brattleboro, Vermont, where I live. The foreground was lacking in subject matter so I added this figure to provide a sense of presence and to draw the viewer's eye into the painting. In addition, I added the cluster of birds in the distance as they weren't there when I recently visited the scene. Regardless, I have walked through this field in all kinds of weather, throughout the year and have experienced all kinds of bird activity from a squall in the distance to a cackle in the nearby brush.

I have learned it is vitally important to get the scale of the figure correct and to articulate his posture with conviction. Perhaps, the figure could have been positioned better but I am pleased with what I settled on. Before I dropped in the figure, it was a pleasant little picture but with the individual in place the focal point instantly became the man and how he was depicted.

This scene is inspired from the western sun in late February, when the landscape elements such as the hills, trees and ground exhibit this wonderful glow.