Snow Dusting

16x9", Oil on Linen.  Private Collection.

Mountain Shadows

This subject was a bit ambitious considering how little time I had to try to capture it.  Gotta try though.  Study 12x8", Oil on Linen.

Indian Summer

This is the narrow sliver of time when the snow has all melted from the mountains before it starts snowing again.  Painting this study was a little bit frustrating because I was trying a new canvas surface and the paint did not want to stick to it.  It was like trying to spread peanut butter on the top of jelly.  I persevered anyway though.  Study 12x7", Oil on slippery linen.  

Late August Wheat Harvest

I went out to paint a different georgic scene, some hay rolls I spotted the night before, but they had already been picked up before I arrived.  A short distance farther along the road, they were harvesting wheat and the bright red trucks and harvester surrounded by the glowing chaff cloud, the golden field, and the blue mountains, were too tempting to pass up. I usually avoid painting Chief Joseph Mountain because it is such a difficult shape to compose around, and because of its imposing size, and the fact that it seems to have a personality of its own, but today I couldn't resist.  Looking at it from the western end, it doesn't look like such a big lump rising straight out of the flat valley floor.  The truck drivers were very patient and friendly as they drove by.  Study 10x6", Oil on Linen. 

Sheep Pasture

I rushed the composition of this study in an effort to have time to capture the quickly changing light.  I'm hoping that my photo reference will be adequate to help recompose it later if I decide to make a painting of the scene.  I was standing on the side of the road in some very tall grass; tall enough that the seed tops of the grass tried to repaint my painting for me in the wind.  I don't think they liked the composition either.  There is also a stream in this scene that I didn't work into it that may be the missing balancing element.  The wind last night blew away much of this smoky atmosphere, so it is somewhat clearer today if I decide to paint this evening.  Study 10x7", Oil on Linen.

Afternoon Clouds

The last couple of days I waited too late in the day to go out painting and the weather became overcast and flat.  So today when I noticed the clouds starting to form, I stopped my chores mid-stream and painted from my yard.  This is the view toward the south, looking across the valley at the Hurricane Creek drainage.  Study 8x10", Oil on Linen.

Evening Crickets

Painting this study was one of the most pleasant painting outings I've ever experienced: perfect weather, beautiful light, a nice scene, and a friendly property owner who came over to take a look.  I painted this scene once before on an early morning in the late spring, but I like this summer evening version much better.  One thing that I miss from the first version though is the paint horses which provided scale and secondary focal points.  Study, 10x8", Oil on Linen.  

Christmas in August

I painted this scene once early on a gorgeous snowy Christmas morning, and it will forever remind me of Christmas even when painted on an August evening.  Study, 10x8", Oil on Linen.  

The Neighbors

The neighbor's farm below our house, so pretty this morning in the morning smoky light.  The backlit  Scotch thistle was lovely to paint, but the shoelaces to my hiking boots now function more like Velcro. 10x8", Oil on Linen.  

Afternoon Haze

I wasn't able to go on my annual eastern Sierra trip this year, but I'm getting out to paint anyway.  This small study was from a couple of days ago.  We have been having quite a bit of smoky atmosphere due to wildfires, which flattens the light, but depending on the time of day can also create some beautiful color.  10x8", Oil on Linen.

Wallowa Study

This small painting is really more of a color study from a smaller study I painted last summer in the Wallowa Valley in northeastern Oregon.  20x10", Oil on Linen.