Art Journal

The weather was not as nice the day I painted this. It started out sunny but as a front moved in it got progressively more cloudy,  cold and windy, the real bane of plein air painting.   It was painted it at the beginning of April when we still hadn't seen too many signs of spring in the local landscape. Things were still many shades of brown and tan but there were some interesting colors in the river reflections to offset all that brown.

Boulder Creek, 8 x 10

This painting is from the beginning of April. Things are starting to green up a bit now. There's that particular pale shade of greenish yellow that the baby leaves and buds show before they fully leaf out that is so wonderful.  It doesn't last long and I always try to get in a painting or two before the greens darken up.

These are some old cottonwood willows along a stream in Heil Ranch that have been around a long time.

Old Characters, 12 x 9