"In the Presence of Greatness" - A Landscape Painting by Melissa Adams

"In the Presence of Greatness"     18" x 24"     Acrylic on Canvas

 SOLD

So here's the piece that's had me in hiding the last few days. It was created in order to be sold at auction for the Royal Family Kids Camps, which is a program that helps foster children to understand how incredibly wonderful and special they truly are. If you've been following my blog for awhile now, you might remember last years piece as well, called "Hope on the Horizon," as well as my Starfish Cake and Henna Cake. The painting was only an 8" x 10", and this year I just really wanted to step things up and go bigger - and boy am I glad I did! I have so many friends who help so abundantly to make those kids feel incredibly special, giving up their time, vacations, earnings, and love in order to help make the Camp a success, and it's such an honor to me to be able to help out in any way possible, even in such a small way as this. I just feel so lucky to be able to use these gifts for something that matters beyond myself and I feel so spoiled that I am able to serve in this way since I get so much joy out of painting, especially when it's used for God's work, though I wish I could have done more.

As for the painting itself, my hope for this piece was to depict a dramatic sense of scale, with towering mountains, a raging waterfall, lush clouds and fields of grass where sheep roam free to graze. I wanted it to cross the line between realistic and impressionistic, and to have an air of dreaminess to it. Not sure if I accomplished all that, but I am happy with how it turned out in the end and can't wait to start on my next big piece. After all, considering how small I've been painting this year, this one is huge in comparison! Haha, well, it was a fun change of pace, and I am sure glad for that! I needed something like that for me to help break up the block I was in, and it really did help a ton! So now I guess the debate for me is whether to keep going small for awhile, to pick up the two larger works I have in process, or to start something huge and epic, like I've always wanted to do. Hmmmm... Decisions, decisions... How fun! =D

Oh, and I know this is kinda silly, but here's a little close-up shot of the sheep. They are absolutely tiny on the painting, and were a bit harder to paint than I anticipated, but I still think they're pretty cute... =0)

Detail of the sheep in the meadow from "In the Presence of Greatness"

Have a good one my friends!