Landscape, Tax Deduction, Learning Experience

Finished and framed -- three small cattle in the distance

Version 3 - dealing with the glaze that didn't work; better sky

Version 1 - First colors

Version 2 - being brave with sky

November 19 -- I donated this painting to the Descanso Townhall for its raffle to raise money for a new roof, so the piece ended up as a tax deduction! I'm very happy I saved all the versions and this story. It was a fun experience and I learned so much from it, most of all that I'm not a glaze person. I guess I think if you want to paint glazes paint water colors. But I never painted the tree and I never painted the cattle, though on the final paint

It was also the target of a scam on Etsy! It provided that experience as well.

I've wanted to paint this for ever -- well, since three years ago when I noticed beautiful, vivid yellow flowers blooming beneath a very large and interesting tree in Descanso Valley (the valley where I live). The cows love to hang out under the tree on a hot day, but they also seem to love these flowers because when they're blooming, the cattle are always there. Since they bloom in May, it's heifers and calves I see standing around the tree in the late afternoon light. Oil on canvas, 18 x 24

This is the first layer of paint -- I'm probably going to just let this painting carry me along. I had an idea of what it would be, but it seems to have its own sense of its own destiny!

More work -- not necessarily for the better -- we'll see. A glaze I tried does not make me happy and will probably go.