Painting Sams Place

This is both Sams Cabin and Sams House. They are located on Merritt Island, Florida. This is about four miles south of Kennedy Space Center. The... more

by AnnaJo Vahle

Title

Painting Sams Place

Artist

AnnaJo Vahle

Medium

Painting - Photography, Acrylic On Canvas

Description

This is both Sams Cabin and Sams House. They are located on Merritt Island, Florida. This is about four miles south of Kennedy Space Center. The Sams family lived in the cabin as they built their new house over a hundred years ago. The two buildings are connected by a covered wooden walkway.
I sat in the back of my van with my French easel holding my canvas. It is a 24 inch by 36 inch canvas. As I painted, the sky filled with clouds. Of course, it rained, too. Fortunately, the surrounding oak trees protected me from the wind. There were a few tricky moments as the storm first began. It eventually settled down to a steady rain. My upraised tailgate protected me from the rain. It was nice, peaceful, and quiet to sit in the clean fresh air and paint. I enjoyed listening to the rain muting the sounds of life around me. Occasionally, a cardinal or a mocking bird sang songs for me. I used such a large canvas so that I could include both buildings easily and still show some of the wonderful details. It was a challenge to paint both a building as dark as the cabin and as light as the newer white house. The young hickory tree in front of them obscured my view of the big house. I began to ignore the tree and paint the scene without it. However, I realized that I simply was guessing at what the left side of the house looked like. For that reason, I painted it as I actually saw it. I did take out the modern stair rails and gutters, though. I roughened up the foreground, too. I wanted to indicate a more lived in appearance rather than the neatly manicured grounds of today.

Uploaded

August 20th, 2013