In The Thick of the Thicket

In The Thick of the Thicket

36 x 36"

oil on canvas
© Nicki Ault, 2012

This is one of the large paintings I did for my show "Prairie Love" at Calories. The front section of the restaurant has a rather high ceiling, so large canvases work well in this area. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that the direction of the sun coming in the front window was the same as the light in this painting. I have to say this was a difficult painting, partly because it has a lot going on (which is why I made resting places of the distant field and sky), but also I struggled with whether or not to keep the dead branches in the front. After a bit of contemplation I realized I wanted the viewer to feel like they were in amongst the grasses, really up close and personal, so I kept them in. Initially all of the branches were coming off the front of the picture plane and it created a bit of a wall. As soon as I pushed them back into the grass at varying distances it started working better. Each painting is an education and I love the process of working through it all!

As an aside, I'm pretty excited because I bought a piece of original art for myself at local gallery/art supply the other day. I saw it before I went to Emma Lake and couldn't stop thinking about it the whole time. I decided when I got home that if it was still available I would purchase it as a gift to myself for my birthday... and happily it was! Yay! The bonus was that as I looked around the gallery one of the owners, who I recognized, asked if I needed help. I pushed aside my shyness and somehow mustered up the courage to say more than "I'm just looking". Who was it? It was my first and only studio art professor from university, Bob Christie!!! I didn't expect him to recognize me, after all, that was a long time ago, but never-the-less when I told him he had once taught me, he pretty much stopped everything and chatted for half an hour! It was fantastic! I felt like a sponge trying to absorb any art talk he was willing to share and I, in turn, let him know the lessons he gave that really stuck with me. It gave me the itch to go to art school! And I have never felt like a parking ticket was so worth it before!!! :)