Foggy Morning 8×10

I've been neglecting my blog lately, I guess I just lost the momentum.  Here is a painting that I painted about a month ago, end of January/ beginning of February.  When I left our house it was a blue sky day but as I drove west, descending slightly into the Walla Walla valley, I was engulfed in fog.  When I came to this spot on the Walla Walla river I walked around in circles for about thirty minutes trying to determine a vantage point.  I had a hard time deciding because it was all the same: fog, fog, and more fog.  I ended up going with this one, it seemed to offer a bit of variety with the curve of the river, the bridge, and the tall trees on the right.

Thanks for viewing!

Two Clouds 8×10

I painted this the other day.  It was a balmy 50 degrees and the farmers were burning their fields off in the distance.  As soon as I got my easel prepared a single small brilliant white cloud appeared, I did my best to capture it right away before it disappeared, but then another one appeared, then another (I decided to keep it at two).  This allowed me to relax a little.  That is the thing about painting from nature, there is a push to rush and get it down before it changes.  The trick is to work fast enough to capture some of those brilliant but fleeting effects, but not so fast that your painting becomes a record of every change that occurred.

Thanks for viewing.