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Day 3 of Where In The World Is Plein Air Event. Just down the road from where we are staying in Gallatin Gateway, Montana. I loved the backlighting and the sparkle of sun-lit outline of the objects against the atmospheric background. "Hot Tin Roof" 8" x 10". Oil on linen.

Day 1 of Where In The World Plein Air Event. Abundance. 8" x 10". Painted from McReynolds Road in Gallatin Gateway,  Montana.

This is one from Hyalite Creek up Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman, Montana. White water is one of my favorite subjects to paint and during the spring when the spring run-off is happening, it's the best time to get some great whitewater painting! Couldn't resist this one.

A study I just finished of Mount Moran  in Grand Teton National Park. The view is from the fields out by Mormon Row. Very possible I will use this for a larger painting. The anticipation of an afternoon shower bringing with it thunder whose echo you can hear through the mountain canyons. That sweet fragrance of rain permeating the atmosphere. Hold on, it's gonna be a doozy. "Storm Over Moran" 8" x 12" Oil.

Here's one I did during my plein air class. I like to paint with the students......or rather my students prefer I paint with them during class. I believe the more they can see what I'm talking about, the better they understand. There isn't much time to paint for me as I walk around to each student to help them, but it's enough to get a small one in. The foreground tree silhouetted against the dark background forest made for a compelling composition and statement. "The Stand Out" 8" x 10" Oil

"Shrouded" 10" x 12" Oil on linen

The morning fog lays heavy over the landscape. Images that are so brilliantly displayed in full sunlight in the afternoon are shrouded over by the mystic layer of ghostly haze. The Sonoma coast is dotted by farms with their weathered wood and rusty roofs looking like old time elders to the younger and newer outcropped buildings. The morning fog brings a mystery to the landscape and all it envelopes. The nearby hills just yards away can barely be seen through the mist. The eucalyptus trees fade in and out of focus. Is there life in those old buildings? What have they seen? What do they know? The stories they must hold, standing there for so long sheltering the stock they have protected over the years along with stored up feed of hay and corn, farm tools, tractors, and other implements of farm life.

Color can be so overly hyped. Everyone loves color. Who doesn't love color? What artist does not love color? Michelangelo loved color. I love color just as much as any artist or person for that matter. But grays......ooooooh. Grays can reveal so much and they can bring out the color. It doesn't take much. But the colors of gray that exist in the shrouded fog establish the mysterious and the quiet mood that begs reflection within our hearts and of ourselves. Do we dare explore the mystery that exists within those barns, shelters, and sheds? Do we dare explore the interior of ourselves? The ocean, being so near, brings a chill. Our nostrils are filled with the cleansing moisture from the low lying clouds which start to fade, as the warmth of the sun slowly overpowers them and soon reveals the joyous light that has been anticipated the morning long.