We are in our last days of Indian Summer here in Bruges, so I went out Saturday, intending to complete a design that I had begun last year of the village of Koolkerke from across the fields. All summer the inked in design has been blocked by six foot high corn! Ha! And I’ve been waiting for the farmers to cut it. On Saturday, once again, no luck.

Rather than turning around and going home, I decided to turn my panel around and use the other side. I noticed a nice composition with a luminous filed of rapeseeds growing nearby, so I thought to try my luck. I set up and had a lovely afternoon communing with nature. Since it was great weather and many people stopped by to chat. The conversations I have in the field are always entertaining. Saturday was no exception. I met a man named Patrick who wants me to do a painting of his home so I tentatively agreed. After exchanging contact info he returned twenty minutes later to give me a box of chocolates. How sweet! (no pun intended). (Well, maybe. )

After about three hours this is what I came up with. I still may want to tone down the long horizontal reflective-light line in the green grass of the foreground – just because it steals the attention from the rape seeds further off. But I’ll let it dry for now and (perhaps) do a small adjustment in the spring.