'RIVER ROCKS MARIPOSA'  

Painting the rock formations along the Agua Fria river, Mariposa, California this spring was an exciting challenge for me.  With the sounds and events of natural life unfolding, I set up my easel and gear in the cold. I set to painting nature's rock sculpture in fast changing light; trying to make water fluid, rocks solid, the land dewy and warming in the early morning.

Oil on Canvas board

9" X 12"

"FIGURE 35" 

Nude with Blues and Greens

Oil painting

11" X 14"

Oil on Canvas

DOOR OF DAWN
The sun rose over the hill and as it broke through the trees it resembled a radiant key-hole.

Oil on hardboard
5" X 7"

AGUA FRIA AT DAWN

I rose at the barest hint of daylight to set up for painting en plein air by the Agua Fria. The California wildflowers were profuse in April- varieties that grow in the higher elevation of the Sierra foothills were not familiar to me. The sun rose just behind the hill and lit up the cold blue rocks and water with warm light. I was working with a value filter.. basically a small sheet of red film in a mat. Looking through this filter helped me to see the patterns of light and dark as abstract shapes first. Some painters teach that the values of these areas should remain clearly delineated.

Oil on canvas board

9" X 12"

ROCKY

I dashed off this little painting after laboring long on another rock painting by a creek in the Sierra foothills near Yosemite valley. This little guy popped up on the rock and posed for awhile. 


Oil on hardwood
6" X 6"