"High Desert Highlights" ©

The rabbit bush is blooming!  This is one of those paintings that I spent hours moving bushes around.  Now seeing the image on the computer I am questioning the bunch on the right.  Generally it's frowned upon to have a grouping that is set apart without connecting shapes and this is a good example of why you would want to keep to the rule.  Having an element floating like an island just "feels" wrong.  Tomorrow morning I will solve the problem by adding some more rabbit brush on the right.  

oil on canvas, 16" X 20"

"Road to Dusk" ©

A year and a half ago I painted this spot and found myself drawn back to the subject of the desert dusk. I find comfort in painting the same locations.  It is as if the spot becomes an old friend due to the intimacy developed while standing and painting for hours.  

Oil on Canvas, 14" X 18"

"Rabbit Bush", Placerita Canyon ©

For weeks I have been telling my painting buddies about the Rabbit Bush blooming at the end of my canyon.  Today Lorelle Miller and I headed out with our gear to paint the golden bushes.  

Just after setting up to start this painting I was reminded of painting on Catalina Island.  I wonder if other plein air painters experience the recollection of other  painting trips while painting out.   I think it was the sound of a distant motorcycle on the 14 freeway that sounded like a dingy motor on the Avalon bay.  Go figure.  In this photo you can see the beginning step of the painting, blocked out in large shapes of light and dark.

In this shot the painting is half way completed.  I took this photo and the lens on my digital camera decided not to retract.  It still is hanging out.  I can't be too hard on it, this Cannon has traveld the world with me taking thousands of photographs.   Today I was thankful for the little camera on my cell phone and an old point and shoot I have stashed in my car.  

Almost done......

Off in the distance Lorelle, was painting a lovely painting of the Rabbit Bush from another vantage point.   I love the oak tree that dwarfs Lorelle.  

This is a general photo of the area.  We are at the corner of Placerita Canyon and Sierra Highway.  If you paint and live nearby, it's a super spot.

Oil on panel,  10" X 12"

"Desert Flowers" ©

This small painting was the plein air piece that I finished before packing up my gear and seeing the evening scene of the Rabbitbush that I just posted. This valley that the town of Onyx is nestled into must be the perfect condition for Rabbitbush to thrive in. It was a different subject for me and I struggled to pull it together but working it out helped pull off the studio piece "Radiant Rabbitbush".

Oil on linen panel, 8" X 10"

(available for purchase @ $450.)