Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Lone Joshua

Lone Joshua by BYarborough
Lone Joshua, a photo by BYarborough on Flickr.

Oil on 20 x 16 cotton canvas. The lower right corner is not as light as it looks in this post. . .that is purely the result of my poor photography skills :-) The photo reference was one I took while hiking on our hills. I'm finding myself drawn to desertscapes since I've been hiking on our hills rather than walking in the neighborhood. There's so many truly wonderful views providing me with lots of reference photos. I'm thinking lately about hauling supplies up and trying plein air! Desertscapes are new for me; I've always favored lakes, rivers, and large trees. After 18 years of living away from my "preferred" scenery, I'm finally embracing the desert I live in and truly appreciate the many shades of brown, red, lavender and yes, even green!

Monday, May 02, 2011

Joshua Soldiers

Joshua Soldiers by BYarborough
Joshua Soldiers, a photo by BYarborough on Flickr.

I was going to call this Joshua Stand, but changed it to "solders" because of current events.
This is a 20 x 16 oil on
masonite board. I'm attempting palette knife painting; the background sky and mountain were done with brushes, but the entire mid and foreground are done with palette knives. The ref photo is from a personal photo taken up on the hills where I hike with my husband. It was a breezy morning, as indicated by the cloud cover coming over the mountains; those clouds are actually marine layer fog and clouds. The hills still have their dots of yellow from our spring wildflowers.