Old and New Horsepower

On Wednesday, our group traveled out to a farm near Rio Vista. This place had the goods. They never threw away a piece of equipment but let it gather rust and sit where it ended its tour. There were plenty of rusted parts, tractors, and trucks for painting. I loved seeing the old dozer next to the newest truck; this was my subject. The day was hot, near 100 degrees with the sun beating down and no shade. I sketched quickly and when painting, was discovered by tiny black bugs. They gathered on my paper and were biting. Out with my bug spray but not in time. Maybe you've had a day like this. Ground too solid to put up an umbrella, the wind gusting, and then my easel got temperamental with collapsing legs. I know I had it coming after so many good days to paint on location.

The Art Ag Outing

We visited a wonderful farm this morning. The day was beautiful and plenty of people showed up to paint. The corn is up to 4ft and the tomatoes are thriving. This scene is along one of many roads and includes the 'bone yard'. There were not many bones in the yard. Everything looked in working order with no traces of rust. It is a very tidy farm. those are the blue mountains of Winters in the background.

The Bone Yard

The warm weather is back and a group of us went to Grizzly Ranch to paint. Lots of material here with marshes, barns, rolling hills and rusting farm equipment. I seem to be drawn to this area, known as the bone yard. As the morning moved on the temperature rose, and soon sweaters, shirts and hats were peeled off. I had my umbrella which allows me to stand out in the middle of a pasture and keep the sun off of my painting and my head. Grizzly Ranch needs a return visit.

The Sheep Ranch

This is the last of my sketches from my farm visit two days ago. I sketched sheep. One doesn't think of sheep moving fast, but as soon as they sense someone, they move on. In New Zealand we had the expression, 'rattle your dags', which was the sound of sheep moving on. It came from the dried feces on their rear ends.
I climbed up the hill to get a view of them and the barn. There was no rattling as they were recently sheered and it is very dry at this ranch. They dispersed.

Yolo Farm Boneyard

I painted last spring on this farm in Yolo County, CA.  Since then, I have taken note of farm bone yards.  That is where all of the large metal structures are left to rust and deteriorate.  This is not bad.  I scraped some burnt sienna on the car to give it rust.  I think it is a 1940 Chrysler four door sedan.  The cows have plenty of grazing space.  It had recently rained so there was a mud track in the foreground.  I had fun with the clouds.  While my wash for the sky was still wet, I tilted my board and streamed some water down it.  I them gave it some bumps and there you have it.