Wildfires at Yellowstone/Ralph Oberg Workshop

Shortly after posting last time I departed for Cody, Wyoming to take a workshop with Ralph Oberg (in the blue shirt)and John Potter (back view with red headband). You can check both of their websites to see their work. The emphasis was on design, massing in the values and getting the color right. I felt I did well -- posts of the paintings to come. I didn't come away with anything for the frame, but good studies. While I was there the wildfires at yellowstone, about 30 miles away, were clouding the sky with smoke. You can see the orange tint to the sky in some of the photos and the aftermath of the scorched earth in a couple others. We painted at a location about 5 miles away from the fires, but it was clear that day. I passed the burned earth and a camp for firefighters.

Plein Air with an old friend

Last week I drove to see Dan, an old friend from art school, who had some time off work. We drove to a location where he was working on a large (like 30" X 36" canvas -- something way too big for me to do outside) painting of a church in a churchyard. More specifically, a church with attached graveyard. I set myself up looking north while he was pointed south. We were both in the shade and luckily so because it was very hot that day. I did this 8" X 10" in about an hour and left out the headstones. The other picture (pencil on paper) is of my friend Dan that I did about 30 years ago. Both of us are well preserved.