Progress photos of a commissioned piece and the completed farm landscape painting.

This is the painting that I have been working on for about the last month or so. I take progress photos of commissioned pieces to show my clients as their painting progresses. This piece was done for a wonderful collector from Iowa.

Above are four progress photos of my most recent commissioned barn landscape painting. I started with a couple of base layers of paint for the sky and land area of the painting. I then went on to adding the young field rows, gold field ad background land area in the painting. Started to work on the barn next and then to the white clouds overhead. I usually wait to add the little background detail later in a landscape. This piece is painted in Liquitex acrylic on stretched canvas. I have slowly developed my painting style from doing many paintings over the years. From the first time I got to use a little painting easel in kindergarten, I was hooked to my love of wanting to create art in life!

Old Stone House

I painted this old stone house and farm scene from my imagination and memories of old houses that I have passed over the years on the quiet back roads in the Heartland.  

Little Study Painting of an Old Country Schoolhouse

I just finished up this little painting today. Painted on archival quality gesso board and measuring just 7 x 5” inches. I like working on different sizes of paintings, and experimenting with brush techniques for the scale and surface each piece.

My dad went to a rural one room schoolhouse as a child, as did many kids that grew up in the country. I painted this piece from my imagination and thoughts of a quiet, overcast day in summer.

New Poppy Farm Landscape Painting

Overcast Sky Over the Poppy Farm

This painting is currently featured in the Ugallery Newsletter. I really enjoy adding the tiny, distant farmsteads that dot the

countryside in my pastoral landscapes. I painted this Red poppy scene into one of those quiet, overcast evenings, surrounded by the peaceful

silence of the country, This scene is from my imagination.

Newly Published Book Cover, Farm Landscape Art by Sharon France

I was happy to be contacted by the author Brooks Lamb, to license one of my farm landscape paintings as the cover art on his new book “Love for the Land”. This book has just been published by Yale University Press and tells “the stories of small-scale farmers who, despite intense adversity, continue caring for their land.”

Farm House Painting at Sunset

Nearing Sunset on the Old Farm

This painting of a quiet country farmstead is from my imagination, and was inspired from a lovely evening sky that I came upon, while on the drive home earlier this year.

Rows of Early Summer

This painting reminds me of the early days of summer, with the young rows of corn quickly growing in the fields. I love the quiet

and peace found in the county and depicting it in my simple landscapes of the American Heartland.

Little Cabin in the Country

Besides working on my larger paintings, I like to paint simple little studies of ideas also. Here is a recent small 5 x 7” that I recently painted and sold.

A little cabin in a quiet, rural scene.

House Portrait of Rural Indiana Home

House Portrait of Rural Indiana Home

One of my newest paintings here. This was a commissioned house portrait for a client of their rural Indiana home. They wanted their home set back into a quiet country scene, instead of a more traditional closer up view of a home. They were great to work with and I had fun painting their lovely new home in an old fashioned style. They opted for a field of abstracted peony’s instead of the red poppy fields that I paint into some of my rural scenes. Painted in acrylic on stretched canvas.

Under the Big Dipper Painting XIX

This painting is part of by Big Dipper series that I have been working on. The previous paintings have already been sold into private collections. For each painting in this series I have depicted a unique farmhouse scene under the big open sky above.

Road Past the Old Farm

An old farmstead set along a quiet country back road, is the scene from my imagination that I decided on for this painting. The more remote an old farmstead is located along a little traveled road, are the ones that I have always found the most intriguing!

Red Poppy Farm Under a Star Filled Night Sky

This painting has been sold to a collector in Australia. I had a really busy past year and have not posted new paintings as I had planned too. Hope to do better this coming year. I worked a lot on larger commissioned pieces for some great clients in 2020. I currently have several new paintings in progress.

Painting in American Embassies Art Collection

One of my original country landscape paintings is now part of the Art in the Embassies collection for the next couple of years. This piece is now hung in the American Embassy in Sir Lanka. https://art.state.gov/personnel/sharon_france/

Original Farm Painting - Bales Under a Summers Sky

I was inspired to paint this painting after passing a newly baled hay field on a back road along the way home earlier this year. There are not many old fence posts and fence lines left anymore around here, so I like to include them from my memories

Contemporary Farm Painting "On a Peaceful Summers Day"

This painting "On a Peaceful Summers Day" is one of my recently sold paintings at Ugallery, and is now part of a private collection in New York state.  More of my original paintings at Ugallery.com  

 https://www.ugallery.com/artist/Sharon-France-Challand

Night Sky Painting - Under the Big Dipper Series

These two night sky paintings are the second and third in my "Under the Big Dipper" night sky series that I started later last year.  The first three of these paintings have already been sold into private collections and the fourth one is currently available for sale. 

I love how out in the flat Midwestern country side, one can see for miles around and the big open night time sky, full of stars at night.  I have painted these pieces with an iconic old red barn  farmhouses, for the simple scenes that I enjoy painting so.