Painting the familiar, "Weathered Grace" is a scene on a backroad to my home

It's lovely and the color of the thistle blossoms looks perfectly like what I see in the fields around The Driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin!

I love that you've named your incoming sticks "Thistle Purples" before they even arrive. That's the kind of thing artists do, right? Naming the tools that might finally crack the code on a color that's been haunting you. I can't speak to the technical side, but I'm curious if those Schminckes will turn out to be magic or just really good imposters of something already on your table. Either way, the thistle blossoms you ended up with look beautiful in the piece. And I'm glad the barbed wire drama had a happier ending this time around.

I really enjoy contrasts, such as sharp barbs beside delicate petals, old wire beside ephemeral flowers. Lovely painting!

Beautiful painting! Your grandad is very wise - don’t change a thing. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve changed a painting seeking perfection only to wish I hadn’t! Your thistles drew me in, your depth is fantastic and the wire on the fence is great! Also love that little slice of sky.

Thanks for sharing!

Weathered Grace" is such an apt title for this piece, it captures both the rugged rustic energy and the delicate warmth you have poured into the canvas.

The composition here is fantastic. The tension between the rigid, hard lines of the barbed wire and the wild, organic reach of the thistles creates a wonderful visual narrative. That blue cast in the shadows on the main fence post is a masterstroke; it anchors the foreground with a rich coolness that allows the sun-drenched, golden grasses in the background to recede naturally.

As for those "troublesome" thistles: your layered violets and magentas were absolute magic, whether you had the exact stick on hand or not! The optical mixing gives the blossoms a luminous, vibrant quality that a single flat pastel stick might not have achieved. They pop against the warm field with just the right amount of jewel-toned intensity, making them feel alive and catching the light beautifully.

Huge congratulations on the immediate sale! Your granddad’s wisdom wins the day; the buyer saw the soul in those layered purples, and the result speaks for itself. (Though enjoy those seven new Schmincke sticks when they arrive anyway, an artist's color collection can never truly be too extensive!) 🦋💫🌸👍

Love it. Where in Texas? I was born in Ft. Worth. Lived all over Texas growing up.

I love it ! I get on a kick where I just want to paint trees and old fences I love the old wood

This is fantastic. Well done. It reminds me of where I was born and brought up ok a farm in the north of England. So good.

Wow, it looks incredible! 😍

These paintings are so incredibly beautiful. I just love them. Great work

This looks like the fences and old buildings in the country where I grew up in Maryland. I always loved the purple thistles. I tried picking a bouquet ONCE!!! lol

Your painting is beautiful!!!

Best of luck,

Teresa

❤

Poetico!

Beautiful Work! 🤩

Love it

Suffice to say— that’s why you’re the artist and he’s not 😆

There's something so honest about the way you described wrestling with that barbed wire, drawing it in freehand over a zillion layers of soft pigment with a crumbly stick, knowing it might not cooperate. And then on the next piece, adjusting, putting the wire in early, keeping those faint reference lines alive as you built up around them. That quiet back and forth between the work teaching you something and you carrying it forward.

It sounds like you're deep in conversation with your materials right now, painting the roads you drive, the fences you pass, the weathered things you know by heart. That kind of closeness to a subject, where you notice the wire and the wood grain and the light on a backroad you could travel with your eyes closed, that's not a phase. That's paying attention. And paying attention is one of the most generous things an artist can do.

The familiar doesn't get old when you keep finding new things inside it.

Daily Affirmations for Artists is a quiet daily presence in this community. Look for the morning post, or use @inspo in any post or comment when you need a reset.

It could be the path to your house, with barbed wire, but it leads to the poetry of heaven's cumin!

I can see why it sold immediately! I love it! You did a beautiful job on blending the colors for the flowers. And while I'm a fan of thistles, I'm also a little frustrated with how well some invasive species translate into beautiful art (around here, it's purple loosestrife as well as Scottish and musk thistles). But maybe thistles have been around long enough to qualify as natives - almost!

This paint is so lovely, and the first thing I noticed were the thistles and thought, where did she find that color (the old "orchid" Crayola crayon color that's hard to find in pastels. Then I read your tale and cracked up. I chuckled and wondered when I saw the barbed wire too, having read your other tale! I'm so glad that you wrote about all of this, because it brings such personality and humanity of the artist into the picture. The Painting speaks for itself, as all of yours do, but getting to know the woman artist for a customer (or admiring artist!!) is like icing on the cake! Well done, Lindy! 🥰

The thistles have turned out beautifully. I used to work with Schmincke soft pastels as well. Now I've switched to oil paints. Cobra (Royal Talens) water-soluble oil paints are completely non-toxic.

Beautiful! I never grew up ithe country but hsve visited many places in the country. Great work.

Nicely done? Kind of Wyethy!

Love this , reminds me of our Scottish croft

Beautiful scene, I can smell the grass and feel the sun

The barbed wire redemption arc! I'm cracking up at the mental image of you hunched over those thistle blossoms, surrounded by hundreds of pastels, convinced the perfect purple is just hiding somewhere in there. And then ordering seven more because surely THOSE will be the ones. The way you talk about updating those reference lines as you went this time, learning from the first fence struggle, that's the kind of behind the scenes stuff people don't always share but it's so real. Also "Thistle Purples" is an excellent nickname and I'm rooting for those Schminckes to be magic when they arrive. Please report back on whether they're truly new or just fancy versions of stick #347 that's been sitting in your collection since 2019.

Beautiful!