Two more in Southwest Skies series

These paintings were actually completed on Wednesday, but too late to get photos.  An all-day snowshoeing trip on Thursday caused me to miss the opportunity to photograph them on that day, and yesterday, I just didn't get around to doing the planned blog post.

So, here they are, finally.  I'll probably do 1-2 more, depending upon what grabs me, and wrap it up.  I've been thinking about the next direction I want to head, subject-wise, and am starting to gravitate towards figurative work, both animal and human.  We shall see.  I may do a short series of winter landscapes based on some of my recent photos.

Along the High Plateau

oil on panel

9x12

SOLD

Painted Desert Sky

oil on canvas board

5x7

Both of these locations are along I-40 in Arizona.  Just west of Gallup, the Painted Cliffs form an unexpected addition to the land, tapering away near the AZ border to form wide, sweeping plains with pinion-juniper as the dominant vegetative zone.  The land is cut with washes and arroyos, the edge of which is seen in the first painting.  Near Holbrook, the Little Colorado river , on its northwestern path towards the Colorado, passes by, follows along the interstate, and takes its exit north at Winslow towards Leupp and Grand Falls.  The geologic make-up along much of I-40 east of Flagstaff is Chinle formation - Painted Desert.  Both the Petrified Forest and Meteor Crater are also right off I-40.

Both of these were again done with the limited palette of the two blues (phthalo and ultramarine), Indian red, yellow ochre and purple lake.  "Painted Desert Sky" was sort of an afterthought to do as a quick painting on these small 5x7 canvases I'd purchased shortly after I started my Four Corners roadtrip series.    Despite the extra layer of oil primer I used over the canvas, I really don't care for the texture at this small size.  Once the other two are used up, no mas - only MDF or Masonite panels.

The snowshoeing trip we did on Thursday was amazing on many different levels.  I was going to include some photos I took here, but I think they warrant their own post.  So, I will post that later today.