" Palos Verde Mustard"9"x12"
Last year I went to Portuguese Bend to paint mustard. Had a great time seeing painter friends of mine and meeting some new painters. While there I strolled around snapping reference photos and this painting was done from one of those images. It was getting late in the evening and this bit of trees across the field of mustard grabbed my attention.
Here is a shot of the reference photo. This field of mustard looked so awesome as the light began to dwindle before we left the area. This is a very cool spot not readily open to the public. I was told this field was actually a bean field back before WW2 and was tended by the many Japanese that lived in the area.
This Easter morning I headed up into Azusa canyon to take some reference photos of morning light and it's effect on the canyon walls. I wanted to get shots of the pale filtered light and then try variations of that in paintings. This one is my first from that trip and I pushed the pale light that would recede on more distant background mountains. If you look at my ref you can see that the pale light was darker and really made the foreground hillside foliage contrast better. On lightening the background hills I lost some of that contrast...but that's ok, this was about pushing that pale light, not contrast. 
And here is the finished painting of mine...
"Azusa Canyon Wash"
Here is the finished piece below 
Spring brings the California poppies and Lupine. The Figuroa mountains are a close drive and I went up there the previous Monday and Wednesday taking photos for reference material and also scoping out some painting locations for future plein air work. As you can see the poppies and lupine were out in force in spots right along the road.
I started my painting during the show and pretty much finished it. When I brought it home I put in the poppies and lupine. People come up to talk and I needed to work out show so I couldn't finish it there. Anyway, shows are a fun time to visit with fellow artsts and relax a little from the painting chores in the studio. Here is my finished painting. The lupine and poppies were on my mind since seeing them so it was oln yfitting to add them in this scene. Mine are toned down a bit since I like subtle color work anyway. I'm happy with it. 
"Valley Poppies"
After I was happy with the sketch I then blocked in my colors for the sky and clouds and then began to blend all of that with a fan brush until it looked the way I wanted. I painted around the helcopter and men on the line below. Sorry for the glare on these early photos...too busy painting to worry about lighting.
I then began to paint in my darks and the grey areas of the helicopter. My oranges would be blended into these colors in areas. 
After that I began to paint in the rest of the helicopter paying attention to my edges. The Coast Guard wants work the resembles their equipment accurately but there is room to not have hard edges and I could have gone softer there if I chose. The back wheels looked a little low so I will paint over them and move them higher later.
Here you can see those wheels painted out and waiting for the new wheels to be painted in. You can see the area left unpainted for the men on the cable...I left them last so I could adjust their position with where they should be under the winch since most of my outlined drawing of them was painted over by the sky blending. After the helicopter was done they were added last and this is the finished result.....
The blurred motion look to the blades was created by painting in some of my dark mix and waiting for that paint to set up to a tacky state. Then I used a dry brush to feather the paint into what you see here. This scene was in late afteroon light...almost twilight which gave that sky such wonderful colors. 
"Floor of the Mojave"
I like to ground the trees with bushes at it's base and dark shadows there. That method seems to work well.
Making that trail meander into the painting was fun...gives the painting some added depth too. The grasses you see here are just vertical strokes with a knife. The base for the grasses are just vertical scumbling with the knife done prior to any grass blade highlights. The dirt areas are also scumbled in with a knife...to finish that off I flick tiny grasses up into the dirt from below. A fun painting to do.
I think the rocks worked out nicely and fill in an otherwise boring foreground. I feel better about taking the time to practice painting rocks too. They might not be the best looking rocks but I'll get better.