Friday, March 16, 2012

Plein Air Landscape Oils From Tucson


"Trail Leading to the Catalina Mountains"
10" x 8" oil on linen panel

My husband and I spent last week in Tucson while I took a workshop from Kenn Backhaus at the Tucson Art Academy. The teaching was excellent and the weather was perfect. The class worked in the studio for a couple of days where we were challenged by exercises including painting from a reference photo tacked to the easel up-side down. We also were instructed to paint a landscape from memory. This was especially valuable because I didn't realize I had the ability to do it. I have added new elements to a composition but I had not painted the entire scene from my imagination. So we're home now and I'm putting newly learned methods to work on the Mojave Desert after a great week painting the Sonoran Desert.



An 8 x 10 of the mountains across from the arroyo.



Painting along side of an arroyo in Tucson.


Working at a state park just above the city of Tucson.


Working on an 8 x 10 oil of a couple of palo verde trees.