Mar 28 - Whitewater Preserve Evening

The second plein air painting for the show coming up on April 2 at Whitewater Preserve off of I-10 for your pleasure! This is a 24 by 12 acrylic, and I painted it SO fast.... Couldn't take any pictures of it in process, as the light changed so rapidly on that rock face on the right. I got that part in first, as I knew that as the light faded, the sun would leave those rocks. And it DID. So I painted this one mostly in the Cool Boxes of the Color System, using traditional acrylics, with just a few accents of warm on the water and wet rocks.

Doing the water while listening to the burbling ripples was such a joy. I was parked near the concrete creek crossing where many people pull off and enjoy the water, but at this time of evening, I was only worried about black bears. Sparky would have warned me, though. In this part of the pass area near Banning, the wildlife come down to drink, and the evening light takes on a special atmosphere. I love to capture it--(the light, not the bears!)

After painting the first oil, I went to leave, and they'd closed the gates on me while I was inside the Preserve! Fortunately, they didn't lock them, so I could come to this location and whip out the acrylics. Fun to do two paintings in two media on one afternoon. Yes, I do paint fast....

The April workshop is fast approaching, and I do have one spot available for anyone interested in a quick three days of INTENSE Color Boot Camp. Let me know... although nine is a good number, too.

Here's Sparky at my set up for the first Whitewater painting...he just woke up and is arching his back in a stretch--thus the strange pose. I hope you enjoy seeing the places "for real" that I paint?

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 26 - Whitewater Preserve off I-10, Plein Air

Oh wow, oh wow, wow! I went to the Whitewater Preserve (used to be the old trout ponds) off I-10 west of Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs late this afternoon. The land up there is gorgeous and rugged, and Sparky 'n' I were out in the middle of nowhere capturing this vista, looking north toward the San Gorgonio mountains. Old sycamores are everywhere, and the valley floor has grasses and brittlebush blooming. SOLD

My Color System is alive and well here in this 12 x 12 oil, yet so tempered by the dove grays and soft value changes that it is hard to find it unless you KNOW it. I'm so pleased with this one, because the recent series of larger studio landscapes has helped me to "nail it" in the field. I may go back once more--the turn-in for this show is coming up on the 2nd, but I'm asking another PAAR artist who's offered to take the paintings in to take mine--I'll be doing the April Color Boot Camp here!

Thank you all for the warm welcome back in your email replies to this post. I truly miss painting when I'm not doing it every day, and your comments help me to keep going!

You can see my entire blog HERE.

My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.

Color System information can be found HERE.

If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 24 - Baby Goats and Finished the "Secret Pasture"

I've been tremendously busy with springtime on the "farm" here--planting the raised beds, fertilizing and planting more citrus, and getting everything ready for the next Color Boot Camp workshop here in April. I'm so glad to be back to the brushes now, and finished the 30 x 40 of the "Secret Pasture"--another place where I'd love to spend time. Most of the finishing touches are related to the lights on the sunlit areas, and the addition of one horse off in the distance--thus, the "secret".

It's hanging on the wall behind me and I just so enjoy looking at it from across the room. I'll be back on Fay's farm in May!

Whooee, though...here at Two Trees it's been a long day! We doubled our goat herd last night with the birth of triplets from our milk doe Uke--six days early. From midnight to 2:30 I was on maternity duty with her in the brisk night air. Mom and kids are fine, two beautiful boys and one girl--who is the spitting image of her grandma! The middle boy is huge, and I had to assist to get him and his sister safely into their new world. Here they are only a few hours old, with mama, this morning.

Tomorrow I go out to the Whitewater Preserve to paint on location for an upcoming Plein Air Artists of Riverside show. This Preserve is the newest in a chain of open space parcels to allow the movement of wildlife, and links the corridors of the Mt. San Jacinto range to the San Gorgonio mountains to the north. It's good to be back painting!

You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2009 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.