Raising of the Flag, Oil on Linen, 12x16
The vast majority of my plein air paintings are done in the late afternoon and early evening. If you are going to paint in the morning and capture the good colors, you have to get up pretty early. This is one I did last Friday morning at the Fort Snelling Historic Site. I was pretty much done with the painting by the time they shot off the cannon and raised the flag. I liked the way the light only shone through the very bottom of the flag leaving the rest sort of muted and understated. I didn't want to do another flag waving proudly in the wind painting. That wasn't the day. It was quiet and serene with practically no wind.
