Cottage over the Hill

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

I have very mixed feeling about this piece. My current crop of hardboards are the dark brown in color, very much like the original masonite. I painted the darker parts of this piece with pure colors, no white added, so that they tend to stain rather than cover up the dark board. This gives a nice contrast to the light areas. This came out well. The subject matter, however... I try to avoid trying to paint too realistically, not only because I can't, but because I don't want to. However, occasionally I veer off the straight and narrow and find myself in the ditch of near-realism, as in this case. I'll get out of this ditch again, but in most cases, I produce a piece that is more popular than my normal run of paintings. It's a good thing I don't take art too seriously. In any event, I apologize for the fence posts and the cottage, just be thankful I didn't throw in a John Deere tractor, a red barn, and barefoot kids walking down the road with sticks in their hands.