Tag: countryside

Late Summer

A hot, humid day with rain coming or going. Summer is leaving, time soon to bring in the harvest. Late afternoon.

I am totally into lavender fields! The bright colors just make you happy, and when in contrast to the warm yellows and golds of other plants, how can you not but rejoice in nature?

Yeah, it sounds corny, but landscapes and the countryside, no matter where, just make me happy. It can be in gentle countryside like here, in the desert, in the mountains – all just touches me and brings a bit of peace.

Oils, 10×14, cotton canvas panel.

Soggy & Boggy

Today the rains are pouring down. The backyard is flooded and the pump is working to keep the water levels acceptable by shunting it out to the the street and into the storm drains. This is the second of the two Pineapple Express atmospheric rivers causing concern and evacuations throughout the county and elsewhere in California. There is charm to living up a canyon until the rains erode it all – I live on a small hill in a tract with a creek in a park a ways down the hill. I’ll settle for that! Our clay soil and poor landscaping creates a boggy lake in the backyard, held in place with our clay soil, but we are lucky overall.

And on a rainy day, oil painting is not something I want to smell throughout the house even though I did think about it. Watercolors called – because of all the water around me? Who knows – but rain brings green growth and soggy ground, and that is a delight in our dry, dry land.

Hahnemuhle CP 140#, 9×12, watercolor. 

Flooded Field

It’s been raining buckets out here, and water is just sitting on top of the ground and slowly sinking in. We have a small lake in our back yard, and it weren’t for a pump, we would really be in trouble. California has seen record-breaking rain, rain, rain, snow, and more rain; now mudslides and other disasters are happening.

While this painting is not of my area – despite the palm tree – I thought it was representative of what we are seeing here. To the west of us is the Oxnard Plain, a major growing area in my county. It is very flat, and water run-off is diverted to culverts and ditches alongside the fields, but areas still stay soggy a bit.

I have also been really disgusted by my last few landscapes, so I decided to make myself do value studies prior to painting. When I do, results are always better, and I am happier. Below is the reference photo from Pixabay.

Rest Stop

Rest stops are things to be much appreciated! Driving 8 hours days to get somewhere, or back from somewhere, they can provide a place to get out, walk around, and of course use the facilities.

Back when our family moved around the country multiple times, there weren’t any that I recall. It was the gas station bathroom or the woods or a bush. Some rest stops are well maintained by organizations or the state, others are sadly neglected and really disgusting. Really, really disgusting. The good ones have scenery, a place to sit and have a picnic, a place to walk the dogs. Some have vending machines, others give out weather info from NOAA, and some give a bit of history of the area.

This is a rest stop in Nebraska. It was clean and had a lot of room to wander. There was a bit of a woodland, a stream, late summer flowers, and a beautiful view of farmland and prairie. The sky was filled with fluffy clouds. Granted, it was in the 90s F, and very humid, but it did our souls and butts good to get out and wander. I had my camera and got a few good shots. This is a painting of one of them.

Watercolor, 9×12 CP Arches.

Quiet Morning

For some reason, winter is just in my head and in my paint brush these days. Probably I like it so much because I don’t have to deal with its less lovely elements, such as shoveling snow to commute on icy roads. Rather, I would be walking through the countryside for hours as I did when I was a kid back east, enjoying the cold air and the silence and the gentle falling of flakes.