New Series, California Wildflowers(Poppies) on Hills

 Greenest Hills 12 x 21

Poppy Patterns 14 x 21

Poppy Hill II 12 x 16

Poppy Hill I 14 x 14
 With the increased rains this winter , I am looking forward to getting out there and hunting for fields of wildflowers. These paintings are so fun to do.Finding a rhythmn and varying shapes and colors so they are similar and different at the same time is the key. I usually stand out there singing something badly to give myself a rhythm.( never wear an Ipod when painting roadside, it isn't safe! )  All except Poppy Patterns were done en plein air.
Poppy Patterns is the studio painting based on Poppy Hill II. There were some interesting challenges in scaling it up. The trees which were large enough to work as a design element in the smaller painting sat there on the horizon like two isolated dark holes in the paper. They needed another dark element (the lavender hill) to organize the darks into a workable composition.
If anyone knows of some particularly lovely stands of wildflowers out there in the east bay hills, please let me know. Although lovely, the mustard is invasive and a kind of obnoxious unvarying yellow!