June Pasture

I finished this painting yesterday, although I painted the study for it on a beautiful early morning in June 2008 in northeastern Oregon. If I could begin every day like that, I would be a happy girl. I was thankful for Gore-Tex boots since I was half-standing in the chilly flowing water of a runoff ditch. Across the road were some long-horned cattle with the biggest horns I have ever seen (see below). I kept imagining what it must feel like to go around all day with the weight of a bowling ball on each side of my head. Of course if I had tried to paint one of those beauties into my painting, it would have looked like a cartoon. The steer I did paint are the more ubiquitous Hereford breed raised for beef. They seemed to graze in a synchronized languid pace, wandering in the same direction down the long pasture, turning as a group and leisurely ambling and munching on the way back. I am happy with this piece because I think I managed to capture the mood of that bucolic morning. 40x20", Oil on Linen.

Elk Mountain Aspen

Yesterday afternoon I wanted to go out and paint the layered cumulus clouds shadowing the Zumwalt Prairie. The prairie is the largest remaining grassland of its type in North America. It is currently still covered in wildflowers which helps it not look quite so bleak. I wasn't paying attention and made a wrong turn, which was fortunate for the cowboys we found stranded by their broken down '83 Chevy pickup pulling a horse trailer. We gave one of them a lift into cell phone range so they could summon help. By the time we returned to their pickup (locally called a "rig"), it was too late to paint, but it ended up being an interesting scouting adventure. We looped back on some remote dirt roads running through vast cattle ranches with no people. In one little turn of Elk Mountain road, there were several beautiful stands of aspen that I returned to this morning. I was visited by many deer and a few rabbits. I'll have to wait a little longer to paint on the prairie, and I wish I could return to paint the aspen this autumn; it is definitely a nice location to paint again. The pristine fresh mountain air alone is worth the trip. I would like to fuss with the shapes more in this study, they are a little clunky, but at least I'm painting a little bit looser.