Nevada Sky #2

Here is another painting influenced by a trip to Nevada last spring.  The skies while we were there were amazing, especially around sunset.  Here we have the layers of mountains off to the west with lowering clouds, which looked like they were going to produce some rain. But this is dry Nevada and  even though we were hoping, it didn't happen. They eventually faded away as the sun went down.

Nevada Sky #2

Nevada Sky

This painting was influenced by a trip I took through Nevada last year. The skies and sunsets were impressive and it made me want to do some paintings on that theme.  This is one of them which I recently finished. I am working on a second one.  Nevada Sky #1, 16 x 20.

Spring Greens

Here's a painting from last week. The wheat fields are starting to sprout and the varying shades of green caught my eye as I was wandering around trying to decide where to paint. This is a scene from the south-east edge of town where the city breaks away into agricultural land. I had to climb a little rise next to a bridge embankment on a local 4-lane highway to get this view.
Green Fields, 9 x 12.

Red Rocks at Hall Ranch

I went here to paint last week. It's still pretty wintry looking out in the country away from planted fields and suburban yards and flowerbeds. The wild plants are still reluctant to succumb to spring weather. I really like the red rock cliffs at Hall Ranch and found this view that I liked - the way the gully snakes up to the cleft in the cliff, the gray/purple shrubbery, the red rocks, and the gold/green grass.  Red Cliffs, 9 x 12.

Spring Grove

Spring is certainly here in my back yard  with flowers and some green grass, but out in the countryside it's still not looking too green yet. One sign of spring is that the willows along the rivers and wet areas start to turn red before they bud. I went out to paint near the river the other day and was struck by the red willows, the pale bare branches of the cottonwoods and the pale green that was beginning to show in the fields between the tufts of last years golden grass. This is the painting I did, Spring Grove, 9 x 12.

Gold Reflections.

The mornings are warmer so I have gotten out to do a few early morning paintings. This was a particularly nice sunrise although I got there a bit later than I would have liked. The important thing in these early morning paintings is to try to get there and lay out the composition and the placement of the darks before the colors in the sky get to the point where I'd like them to be. Then when the color happens I am ready to go with that.  On this one I kind of had to play catchup.

 It is so hard to drag out of bed especially since the time changed. I guess I am not really used to it yet. Gold Reflections, 8 x 10.

Indoor Painting

I've been working on finishing a painting ready for a competition and haven't gotten out to go  painting very often at all in the whole month of March. I did do a few though and here's one of them, an indoor painting, some things that happened to be sitting on the table in the morning sunshine. In the sun, 6 x 6.