Home Again

This is Phelp’s Mill in Ottertail County where my wife’s mother grew up and near where my wife JoAnn grew up. We had enjoyed each other’s company here as teenagers swimming in the river, diving off the bridge and exploring under the buildings. As we grew up, we visited there many times. Then after having lived away from Minnesota for twenty years, we came back and it felt good to be home. These days this painting is more precious to us because we seldom visit the mill anymore, not since JoAnn's mother passed away.

There were several challenges to meet in making this painting. First, was to paint the sunset reflected on the white building while retaining the impression that it was really a white building. It was also a challenge to balance the brightness of the eastern sky with the reflected light of the building. If the sky was too dark, it looked like a storm. If the building were too light, the color wasn’t sufficiently intense. Creating ripples in the water that still retained the recognizable reflection of the mill was also a challenge. Finally, it took some doing to get the foreground grass to show that the blue sky was being reflected into the deep shadows.