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| 9" x 12" Oil on Panel |
This jumbled collection of ranch buildings beneath a big cottonwood tree has attracted my attention for quite some time. I finally was able to set up my pochade box on a neighboring ranch, from where I was able to paint the scene shown above. The day I visited the ranch no one else was there, but I had the companionship of several head of cattle, a couple horses, a mule, and a bunch of chickens.
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t's been difficult to paint en plein aire lately. There's huge wildfires in the mountains not far from here. Often smoke from the fires obscure the mountains, and sometimes makes it hard to see here in the valley. The smoke is unpleasant to eyes and lungs. On this day a change in the wind cleared the air in most of the valley making painting on location possible.
To date the fires have burned one hundred and thirteen thousand acres. Roads in the area of the fires have been closed and communities near the fires have been evacuated. So far no homes have been lost and hopefully none will.
A week or two ago I was planning to go up Payson Canyon to the Nebo Loop Road to paint, but most of that is charred now, parts of it still burning. Those plans have also gone up in smoke. For the foreseeable future, I'll be looking elsewhere to paint.
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| 18" x 24" Oil on Panel |
The weather's still rather warm, but nights are becoming a little cooler and autumn color is beginning to sneak into the summer greenery. The rancher who owns this property is letting me have access to his ranch for plein air painting. It opens up new places to paint in the valley not far from where I live. On an earlier trip to the ranch I saw this scene and was struck by it, but only had a 9" x 12" pochade box with me. I thought it should be painted larger than that, so I returned earlier this week with a much bigger panel and made the painting shown above. Ranches are great places to paint! I'm looking forward to returning there for more paintings.
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| 9" x 12" Oil on Panel |
The owner of this ranch has allowed me access to it for plein air painting. That opens a lot of new opportunities for new paintings. Earlier this week I went there with a 9" x 12" pochade box and made the painting shown above. Some of the views on the ranch would work well painted larger than 9" x 12", so I'm planning to go back with bigger panels. Stay tuned!
