Rancho Arbolado Lupine

"Rancho Arbolado Lupine"

24" X 36" Oil on Canvas

             I attended a fund raising BBQ for the Wildling Art Museum that was held at Rancho Arbolado. The BBQ was held down in a small valley on the ranch and you parked up on top of a ridge. This view here is from that ridge late in the afternoon as we were getting ready to leave. Below that far mountain range in the distance is Hwy 101 coming through Gaviota Pass. This was last Spring as the lupine and poppies were starting their bloom and the dash of color made a great contrast to the endless greens of the hillsides.
            Lupine is always fun to paint and at times drives me crazy. A lot of people like lupine too. Linda, my Mom and Jasminka, my gallery owner love lupine...not to mention the many comments we had on paintings with lupine at last years Studio Tour. Lupine comes in various colors. I've seen purples, blues and magenta colored lupine. All of these have bits of white in them. For some strange reason when I'm painting blue lupine I'll get the feeling it should be more purple or magenta colored...and vice versa. I guess I just need to paint more lupine to get that out of my system or maybe it's just the way I see the colors of lupine. Sometimes they look purple and blue...and violet...and magenta, hahaha. See what I mean!? I'll work with them some more and maybe I'll either see their true colors or just make a better decision and stick with it, haha.