Plein Air Do-Over

Two weeks ago I painted a barn and silos on a beautiful day on a sunny day with great clouds. The scene had everything I look for: nice depth, enough contrast and some good compositional possibilities. Here is the scene,

Here is my first attempt. The color and the contrast are okay, but there is more about the painting that I don't much care for like the drawing (leaning silos) and the over worked clouds that distract from everything else.

 I spent the last two weeks thinking about the painting and couldn't help feeling like I blew a good opportunity on a beautiful day. So today when I woke up to a spectacular sunny morning, I decided to try again and revisit the site. Below is my second attempt.

I simplified the scene by removing the clouds and the little tree on the right, and generally ignored the little voice in my head screaming to add more detail. I also worked hard on the value relationships. Overall, I like my second attempt more than the first, and I think it was a valuable experience to paint a scene again after thinking about the things I wish I had done differently for two weeks.