For Artists Who Love the Outdoors

For the last two years I've looked at this escarpment in Lost Dutchman State Park and thought, "I have to paint that." Two years of seeing this rocky outcropping, catching it in different light, at different times in the year, and still I waited. I even looked for different viewpoints on which to set up my painting kit. Here might be better; no, over here or down there. I probably drove Julie crazy, because she would try and help me, but still I never actually did anything. I might call it procrastination, but I think it was really something different. I think I had become afraid to paint it, because I had thought about it too much. I should have just done it two years ago when the thought first occurred to me.

Last week I finally went out to Lost Dutchman, shouldered my backpack, and hiked out toward the escarpment. I found a great site quickly, set up my pochade, set outmy paints and brushes and started. It took longer than usual for me to find my rhythm in painting. I can't say that I was disturbed by hikers or set upon by nature, although there was a stiff wind that day. My paints dried out quickly on the palette and I had to keep my squirt bottle handy. I finally got my rhythm going about 3/4 of an hour into the piece. Often that's too late for me, but this time it was ok. I began to see the scene unfold on my canvas in an interesting manner. I liked what I could see coming together: a pallette that was a bit different than I usually use, a nice feeling of distance and undergrowth without too much concern over detail. Good shadows and a simple but effective sky and skyline. It was coming together nicely, and I worked happily for 3 hours, and then stepped back onto a cholla branch.

I always try to keep in mind where I'm standing in the desert, because you can back into something nasty very easily. Cholla is the velcro of cactus spines, and I was really lucky my boots took the brunt of this encounter. No harm done.

Let me end this blog with a short insight into my current work. I'm aware that my painting style seems to be evolving recently, and I can't really define what the change is yet, but I do sense the coming change. My choice of palette colours has been changing over these last six months, my approach to landscape settings, even my choice of the settings themselves. I don't know if it's important to articulate it or not, but I feel a movement toward abstraction. I sense a stronger interest in the underlying structure of things and I'm allowing that change free rein. I want to see where it takes me. If you have any thoughts on what you see appearing recently in my work, I'd be really pleased to hear from you.