"Rural Reflections"
©2018, 11” by 14”, Watercolour
 
This painting is from an "Illustrative Watercolours" class that I teach at The Art School of Peterborough. I like to give students some say in what we paint while still having enough of a subject in common that they can try out the painting techniques that I demonstrate. That's why, when we're collaborating on a subject to paint, we decide on a common theme that each of us can customize in some way. In this case, each of us got to decide what was reflected in the windows of the barn. I chose an abandoned farmhouse with a broken wagon in the foreground.
 
As I painted this scene, something kept striking me as being "off," in that it couldn't possibly exist in reality. The window glass is acting as a mirror and is reflecting the scene that is behind the viewer, but the conundrum is that there is no viewer! The person looking at the window should be reflected there. It's kind of like it's a view that makes the person looking at the painting invisible. I like it actually. It makes the scene completely unique!