Last paintings of Marnay-sur-Seine

My last two paintings of Marnay represent nearly a third of my overall canvases that I brought with me to France!

I had the idea for this painting for a while.The path between Marnay-sur-Seine and Nogent-sur-Seine is an overcrowded field of wheat, barley and hay... there are these giant looming electrical wires, the nuclear power plant, and giant expanses of open space... I admit to singing the theme song to Oklahoma! the first time I rode my bike here. I decided to do this painting as a triptych to really get the feel for the expanse of space and land. I really wanted a powerful color like red to dominate the foreground. 

This painting was done on a whim... I had wanted to do a painting plein air and had been eyeing the willows for a while... when conditions were right I decided to act and found a spot along the Seine where I could paint this entire piece in one sitting. This green color was the actual color of the Seine btw, though the hot pink of the trees was invented.