Piletina. 12x12, oil on linen panel. 2015.
More than anything else, I wanted this painting to be about the light and the way it varied in intensity from top to bottom and front to back. My starting point was a reference photo taken last year. There was out-of-focus chicken wire in the foreground which changed some of the values in interesting ways.
I had originally meant to leave part of the canvas unpainted but as I got nearer to completion it was clear that this wasn't working. I fixed that problem while the paint was still wet. One important lesson I've learned is that mixtures using burnt umber (like this background) darken as they dry and it is nearly impossible to re-create the same shade and value at a later date.