Here's another study from this regional park in Orange County.
We had a good deal of rain this year in Southern California and it really shows in the abundance of new greens and wildflowers!
I'm collecting several of these studies in preparation for something on a larger scale.
9x12 oil on board
Almost every summer I get to spend some time at my wife's family cabin on Lake Huron. As beautiful as it is there, within a few miles is the Au Sable river. In the past I always spent most of my time fishing. Now that I'm painting more I can't wait to get back there with my kit.
In the mean time, this is from a photo that I took a few years ago while I was on the river.
8x10 oil on linen
This is from the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. Boy, I haven't been there in like 10 years. It was a bit cool but everything was blooming and the light was soft and warm.
There's so much to paint here that it took me 15 minutes to decide what to set up. It was getting a little crowded so I hid in a corner and worked on a sort of telescopic view of the opposite side of the court yard. In photography I like to call these "intimate landscapes".
8x10 oil on linen
More fun with palette knives. On this one I didn't even pick up a brush. These things are fun!
I'm enjoying the thick paint and clean colors that you get from this technique.
9x12 oil on linen
From an early morning trip to Joshua Tree NP. Good thing, too because by 10 am it was already 90 deg.
9x12 oil on linen
I had very little room to set up so I did this much like a wide angle lens photo. I'm used to seeing this kind of a view in my photos but it was a bit strange trying to translate the near-far distortion to a painting.
