Claude Monet painting include more than 50 variations of haystacks. They are beautiful. In the Art Institute of Chicago, four of his haystack paintings hang side by side. They are breathtaking.  Seeing them inspired me to paint modern hay bales.

I spent a year taking photos of various hay bales across North America, looking for my hay bale inspiration. Driving North on I-75, just outside Ocala, Florida, I found her. This painting shows her sitting in a large field, quietly bathing with a few friends in the early morning light. — Larry Smith