“Let’s go for a ride!”

Back in the 60s in homes with no air conditioning, a mid-summer car ride on a country road with all the windows open was a real treat. Funny how just riding around and looking at things was a regular form of entertainment, even in the early days of television. Ice cream for the ride was a rare bonus. Living in a house without air conditioning in all this sweltering weather takes me back to those days.

Much of the land around where I live, very near where I grew up, was active farmland then. I have carried those memories of fields and cows and horses and barns and woods to today. Almost any spot along winding, hilly back roads through fields with old trees and fence posts is a worthy spot for painting.

This image is one of many I liked best of the group I’ve been taking over the years for various reasons. The tree in the center is the main subject if you ask me, and I like the way it owns the road. The road itself leads straight into the scene, unlike most of my road sketches where the roads have bends.

The field on the left gently reaches up and up and up out of the shadow in the left corner. That fluffy summer sky is just so pretty, just enough cloud, just enough blue, it’s all almost overwhelmingly perfect. It’s a scene that always makes me feel very expansive, positive, wanting to run to the top of the hill as I did when I was a child when I saw such a place.

The whole scene has a very simple color palette, and where I like to add complementary colors to most of my paintings to liven up the shadows and highlights, I wanted to maintain the scene’s simple, literal sense. A summer day is very uncomplicated.

It’s painted in soft pastel on a self-prepared board. Where I had added the pastel grounds smoothly on other boards, I stippled it on this one intending to use it for a scene that had fine details, like the leaves on the trees. I used that texture to build the textures all over the painting.

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 3. Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge. See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

Where to find “Summer Back Road”

This original is still available. I mounted the panel on a forest green mat instead of under the mat, then framed it in a plain square rustic walnut-stained 11″ x 14″ frame. Visit the product post for more information.

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.