Eucalyptus Grove

"Eucalyptus Grove" oil on canvas, 12x36"

One of my personal goals has been to try and find a way to do studio paintings that have the same life as my plein air work. I'm finding that one of the keys to good studio paintings for me is viewing my reference photos on the computer, rather than trying to print them out. And I think the other piece of the puzzle is doing the studio painting as soon as possible after completing the field study, so it's easy to tap into the sense memory of what made that place special. This painting grew out of a frustrating plein air session, where I couldn't seem to make things work. I realized when I got home that part of the problem was that the painting wanted to be long and skinny instead of my usual format. So I listened to what the painting had to say.