Rusted Remnants Oil Painting

This 24 x 36 inch oil painting started as many of my paintings often do: with a drive through the countryside just outside of Calgary. I came across abandoned farm equipment, and became enamoured with the beautiful rust formations taking over this threshing machine. If I had not been equipped with a camera and an eye towards the scenery it would have been an easy thing to overlook (how common a sight is farming equipment in Alberta, really?). Observing the rust was a full-circle moment, where the rust was wreaking its revenge against a machine that once helped to cultivate and shape the earth, turning it into a lifeless fixture of the land. I had to paint it. I had to show how beautiful I found this rather “unnoteworthy” sight to be; so I painted it with the kind of respect one might paint a portrait, highlighting all of the shapes and colourations on the machine. [The frame is not included]