Churches

I have always loved old churches. They have a character and life of their own, I wish they could tell their own story. Growing up we lived about a mile from Potosi Methodist church, it was right next to the church we attended and I admired it for years. A few years ago I heard that it caught fire and burned completely to the ground. My heart was broken, I never set foot in that amazing church.

The idea to start painting churches started after telling friends about a trip to Connecticut with my husband. We were driving along our route from one place to another and we passed numerous old white churches. I went on about their beauty. My friends expressed their love for old churches too and suggested that I paint them.

This series was a challenge for me. I am used to painting fluid and curvy lines. I feel that I need to be true to the architecture and be as accurate as possible, I wasn’t able to take artistic freedom and allow lines to go astray.

Look for the variation of colors in the white. I tried to capture the aging of the wood. I achieved this look by applying many layers of thin and thick white paints. I tried to keep the backgrounds soft and unimportant. I wanted the main focus to be the church.