Lumber Mill, White City, Oregon: Original Oil Painting Urban Plein Air Landscape

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Original Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting - Lumber Mill in White City, Oregon by Sarah F Burns. It was a … Read more Original Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting - Lumber Mill in White City, Oregon by Sarah F Burns. It was a cloudy gray day, White City, Oregon is an unincorporated area with many lumber mills, an industry that had its heyday many years ago.

I love painting urban areas that are just past their prime, old enough to be interesting, but not old enough to be historic. Shape, color, tone, light, abstract design are all really interesting to me and I usually like to include something distant as well as something up close.

I painted this landscape en plein air - which means outside in the open air. Traffic moved by, but as they moved too quickly to paint, the empty streets create a feeling of peace and remind me that the real permanent things are sun and wind and seasons and time. Painting outside means working quickly since the sun moves pretty rapidly and it also means talking to people, dealing with bugs, wind etc.

I am a big traditionalist when it comes to materials. This piece is painted with excellent oil paints on a cradled masonite panel, gessoed with traditional gesso (which I made), and then varnished with a matte varnish made of turpentine, damar and beeswax. With minimal care this painting will outlive us all.

This painting measures 10" (w) x 8" (h) and has been framed in black wood, modern floater frame. See less