"Mojave Evening"

12" X 24" Oil on Birch Panel

Another desert painting in late afternoon to evening light. I would thing the second one would have been easier, haha, but it wasn't. Seems like each painting presents it's own unique challenges. I'm always learning it seems with each painting. Makes you want to bang your head but it is actually a good thing.
Those foothills in the background are the beginning slopes of the San Gabriel mountain range looking south. On the otherside is the beautiful San Gabriel Valley. Back in th old West bandits like Vazquez use to hide out close to here and probably rode their horses into the foothills in this scene...ok, maybe they did.
....a detail of the painting,

    

"High Desert Rabbitbrush"

24"x36" Oil on Canvas

I painted this scene about 2 years ago but something didn't feel right so I put it in storage. The other day I was hunting in the storage room and came across the painting again. Right away I spotted what it was that didn't look right to me. In the foreground rabbitbrush I had painted the values of the flowers and the plant itself too extreme. I went back at it and made my changes and now I like the painting much more....no more storage for this one.

I really enjoy the California high desert desert. The area in this scene is not far from the small desert town of Littlerock. The desert starts to raise up as it nears the foothills and just after winter the desert plants begin to bloom. Rabbitbrush is one of my favorite plants from the desert. In spring the plant is a grey blue color and in afternoon light looks just beautiful....of course, the entire area as barren as it is can be very beautiful. Obviously you don't want to be standing there in the dead of summer becuase it can get seriously hot. These plants thrive in the desert climate. I've learned that the Mojave yucca trees on average can be anywhere from 200-300 years old and the oldest creosote plants, near Lucerne valley, were carbon dated to 11,700 years old! They are some of the oldest living organisms on earth.        

Mojave Desert Light

"Mojave In Gold"

24" X 30" Oil on Canvas
This was painted from reference photos taken near the town of Little Rock, CA up in the Mojave Desert. The plan was to go plein air paint that day but I kept stopping on the way there so by the time I got there it was late afternoon and super cold. Instead of painting I just took reference photos until the sun went down. Not a waste of time since reference photos would give me what I needed to do paintings here in the studio. This area is just above Pearblossom highway and sundown was bringing in some awesome light. I love the desert in the evening and enjoy what the light can do to the colors up there. I think I could spend the rest of my life trying to capture the colors of the Mojave...even the dirt looks good when the sun is just right.