Tag: mustard

Summer Path

I was going through some of my Instax photos taken earlier this summer. Here, a path nearby overgrown with mustard. Depending on how much water is available, mustard plants can be very short – or very tall.

I thought this could make a good study with a limited palette, and dryer brushes. Lots of things went through my head, actually. For example, plain batches of color. No pencil lines. Shadows using the underlying color of the ground or plants – i.e. burnt umber and ochre mixed with a bit of blue. Details in dry brush. Patience and wait to let things dry, or add blobs of color to enrich the damp paint. Dry brush over colors already laid in as a wash (like the tree and bush in midground and background).

Maybe I’ll take my Instax out for a walk today. And a dog.

Dead in Winter

Last year we had a lot of rain in California where I live.  This winter, none that I can recall.  The weeds – here, wild mustard – grew to enormous heights because of all the rain.  We might get rain tonight.  The fact is, these dried weeds are what made the Thomas Fire so fierce – a lot of dead growth left over from a wet winter a year ago.