Mouth of the Canyon

I went away over the holidays to a place near the Nevada/California border. I was hoping to get a little more painting done but the weather didn't cooperate. But I did get to do two paintings. Here's the first.  We went off hiking up a remote set of canyons with rugged volcanic ash and rock sediments, and colorful rocks and petrified wood. We hiked far up the canyons looking at petrified wood chunks and exploring the rock formations. As the afternoon wore on, and we finished hiking around and eating lunch, I set up to do a painting just around the bend at the mouth of one of the canyons. The light was highly contrasted and brilliant as the dark shadows crept across the sandy stream bed. Soon the wind picked up and I had to work fast to finish up before freezing. Mouth of the Canyon, 8 x 10.