Morning Shadows

Every year in January the sun comes in my kitchen window and makes interesting shadows. It doesn't happen any other months since the sun angle changes and trees get in the way. Every year I try to do a picture using the shadows in some interesting way if I can.  This painting is my take on this year's shadows. I used a tarnished silver pitcher that I have that originally belonged to one of my older relatives. It needs a good polishing, but I didn't mind all the colors and streaks.
This is finally dry so here is a scanned version of the painting.
Tarnished Pitcher, 12 x 16

Twilight Coming

Here's another painting I just finished based on photos I took while I was in California and Nevada at Christmas time. It's a view looking in the opposite direction from the painting called Last Light I did a few days back. The mountains were very abrupt and pretty steep and the sunset light was hitting them full on while we and the valley were already in the shadow. This was also near the old corral and the salt bed were were hiking around.  It was a pretty spectacular sunset evening.
Twilight Coming, 12 x 16.

Back to the River Again

Sunday afternoon was really unseasonably warm so I packed everything up and headed for the river again. No ice is left anymore so I found a place where the sun was shining on a little sandbar and really lighting up some pale grass along the river. Here is my resulting painting from this trip.
Winter Thaw, 9 x 12. 

It was 75 degrees here yesterday - very abnormal. If it keeps up I may do a lot more outdoor painting this January than I ever imagined would be possible.

Last sunlight

I did this painting last night. It's another scene from my recent trip to California and Nevada. The setting sun was providing quite a show on the mountains and the valley as it progressed towards sunset. We were wandering around an old corral down near a salt lake nestled in a wide swath of sagebrush,  and I took many photos.
Last Light, 8 x 10, Sold.

Backwater Ice

The weather continued to be nice so I painted again. Here's the result from this session. I had an 8 x 8 board from this summer that I had never used so I decided to try a square shape for a change. It was kind of windy and I got a lot of grit and grass chaff on the painting.
Backwater Ice, 8 x 8.

Sandstone Road again

The weather is still holding fairly nice so I went painting again on Wednesday, went back to the scene I painted before in the spring along the road into Sandstone and gave it another try. It would be interesting to paint this place every month and see how it changes. Maybe I'll try it next month.
There's still a little snow in shady patches here and there. The day was slightly overcast and colors were muted. I painted again this afternoon too, a little gusty today though but a warm sunny day around 50. It's really nice to be out painting, with geese flying overhead, hawks and eagles circling and an occasional deer wandering about.

I'm getting a little faster at this painting outdoors thing and it is getting easier. January Sandstone Road,  9 x 12.

January Hills

It finally got warm enough to go out and paint here last Saturday. I've been wanting to paint while there is still some snow on the ground and when the light is bright. In particular I wanted to paint a set of rocks and have been waiting for the right conditions - bright sun and shadows, some snow on the rocks, a southwest facing slope. But it got so warm, so quick, that the snow melted right off before I could get there.  I gave up on the rocks and found this to paint instead. The rocks will have to wait for a later date. The weather was in the forties so it all went well without getting too cold. This is still wet so I had to photograph it - will do a scanned better version after it dries.
January Hills, 8 x 10

Ranch Fenceline

Here's the second painting I did on the trip - this one of a windbreak line of trees along a fenced field on the ranch where I was staying. The weather was changing as I painted so it was a bit of a challenge standing there in the wind. Some people really love painting outside in all sorts of weather - me I am not so used to it yet.  Wind and cold are hard to deal with. I know a painter who goes out in subzero weather and paints regularly. I'd freeze to death. Ranch Fenceline, 8 x 10, sold.

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.

An Old Farm

A new bike path was constructed near a large park where I often paint, leading to a bike underpass coming out near an old farmstead. I took advantage of another warm day to check out the new bike trail and paint the view from a previously unavailable vantage. The farm is boarded up - I think it may get sold and soon be gone. Barn & Sheds, 8 x 10.

Hamm's Pond reflections

I did this painting later in the afternoon from the previous painting. It was starting to get colder and the sky was starting to overcast - looking more like a winter sky.  Winter Sky, 8 x 10.