Early Risers (large version)

     I had done a small oil sketch of this scene maybe a year or two ago and had always planned on making a larger version of it.  I may still add a few small touches but this is pretty close to finished.
Update:  I went back and reworked the color and softened everything.  I am much happier with this.

The Lookout

     I have always liked this scene of the tree in my back yard when it is shadowed by the house with the lit hill in the background with its red soil and junipers.  Usually every morning there is a magpie on top looking for leftover goodies I have thrown out for them.  I enjoy these gregarious birds and their antics.  I had put out my son's left over pizza slices...deep dish.  I watched one work very hard at trying to pick up a slice and make off with it.  It finally got a good hold on the slice, he laboriously flew up on top of the closest fence, readjusted his load, then took off for the next fence.  Upon taking off, he immediately dropped, heavily, and with much effort, flapped to the next fence.  This labor was repeated again when he took off from that fence to a tree and so on.  They are incredibly smart...and determined.

Light on the Hay

     I saw this scene a couple of mornings ago and couldn't wait to get back to paint it.  Yesterday was a very grey day that wouldn't have worked so I had to wait till today.  I got there early and started painting.  I forgot to put on my coat because I thought it wasn't that cold out.  I was so engrossed in painting I didn't realize with the light wind, being in the shade and no coat...I was freezing!  Luckily I was close to finished when I discovered this so I just threw everything in the back of my trusty paint-mobile and headed home.

    This is a lovely, rustic old barn in the area that I have painted before.  Boards with no battens, gaping holes and also missing boards make for the beautiful light that falling across the hay and that was exactly what attracted me to this scene.  When I was growing up I loved to just sit and enjoy a barn such as this.

The Hay Barn

     This is looking across our field to the neighbor's hay barn.  It is always amazing to see things in relationship to other things.  In this case, it was the immenseness of the sky in relationship to the hay barn...which, by the way, is rather huge compared to one of us puny humans.