Tying the Raspberry Vines 24X30 in, NEW! and Available, $500 unframed

At last this painting is complete. I put my name to the bottom right corner yesterday. It sat for weeks on an easel and I looked at it pensively when not doing something else. The image of the mailbox and the tall grass was the main reason I painted this large painting. It fascinated me. I had rows of vines further back in the painting and some clouds, different ones than I have now. But the painting did not speak to me. It needed a story. That came as I added the people who farm these berries and a John Deere tractor and trailer that carries the workers back to the barn. The scene is real, just outside Abbotsford. I reworked the vines and rows and clouds. My lighting from the start was from the west late in the afternoon, so I added the sunset light to the clouds. The rows and the vines are rendered impressionistically, that is with less detail than the mailbox up front. My Indo Canadian workers typify those who work long hours doing this kind of work. They are seniors and they may have owned their own land in India but here in Canada they do this hard hand work.