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Sometimes it is necessary to devote  two consecutive mornings to a work. In this I wanted to capture the warm orange light on the twisted mesquite branches.

Each session was  only about 20 minutes long, as the rising sun quickly turned a more lemon color, and the shadows changed position..

I often think that  these trees would have been an art nouveau artist's dream. The way that the branches grow and snap back on themselves was a unique design element to that long ago movement.

This was done on an amber color Canson paper, with quite a bit showing through, to further enhance the warmth.

Almost every day I go for a walk in the hills near my home. My favorite time is just before sundown, with a long, raking light.

This piece started out as a demo , for a wonderful group of 60 people for the IAPS pastel convention, in Albuquerque.

I was pretty happy with it upon its completion. However, wanting a new piece to take up to a gallery space in Sedona, I pulled it out and "tweaked it" a bit. Other than painting it in front of a group, this had never been exhibited.

Knowing that the focal point, the rabbit brush, in the lower right needed a bit more impact, I added a few more blossoms, and brightened up the color a bit..." keying up" the yellows. While at the convention, I had purchased a few La Roche pastels, including a deep, rich blue violet. I used this, plus a very dark, almost black Terry Ludwig pastel to really make the darks rich and velvety.

The frame I put on it is a bright gold plein air frame, with a black liner, which also brings out the warm/cool, and dark/light contrast.

With a few strokes, and its' new " clothes" this was ready to be seen!