Inside Looking Out, Part I

Unfortunately, the words "social distancing" and "quarantine" have become part of our everyday vocabulary over the past week or two. But fortunately, I have still been able to go to my studio every day. For better or worse, my studio location allows me to work without interacting with other people. In fact, the current crisis contains something of a silver lining: with meetings and appointments cancelled, there are extra quiet hours for reflection and for listening to one's own inner voice. 

"Two Gables"
10 x 10, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2020

As I reflect, I have been looking out the windows of my second floor studio. In these quiet days, my strongest impulse has been to paint what I see out the window. I keep thinking of what the painter Frank Hobbs has said: "Your life's work lies in the courtyard just outside your house."  

The top two photos show what can happen when you take the time to study a view that you typically just glance at every day in passing. There's a lot of chaotic information in that view, but the window panes just happened to hand me an interesting composition.  Quick, quick, before the angle of the sun changed too much (I didn't want to lose those great shadows under the eaves!), I grabbed my plein air easel and set up next to the window. 

The last photo shows how the painting started, with my "searching" lines, as I started to put the composition together. Lots of angles. In the end, I decided to leave some of these initial marks visible. I think they add to the energy of the painting. Let me know what you think! And stay tuned for more views out the studio windows...