Delta Skies

Big Sky Over Delta, 12 x 16 inches, oil on linen

I've been working on more tonal landscapes lately for several upcoming shows. I'll announce them after the galleries do, to make sure the details are in sync.

Winter can get dreary, and the glorious weather we've been having this week is a welcome change. The daffodils are already blooming, and so is my plum tree in my yard. Allergy season is upon us! It gives me a miserable time each year, but hey, I'm ready for painting weather already.

One thing about winter around here, though. Increased precipitation means increased humidity, and on occasions when the sun does peak through, we get absolutely spectacular cloudscapes. On the delta, where it's flat and tall trees are few, the sky is big and takes center stage. The simplified landscape of the wetlands provides a great context and anchor for the big sky paintings. The emphasis is on the mood. If I can express just a little bit of the evocative quality of this place on a sunny winter evening, it's very, very satisfying to me.

Delta Winter, 11.5 x 17 inches, oil on linen

I like the quiet, moody, dusky sunsets as opposed to the flaming orange fireworks exhibition. I can't paint the spectacular. When I try, it always comes out looking like a cheap knockoff of something glorious. Then again, the views that make me go "ooh aahh" only do so because it's so extraordinary. If I saw it every day, it may not be so wow-inspiring. On the other hand, the quiet views of a more ordinary nature sometimes evoke memories of long ago, and has the power to trigger all kinds of emotions associated with these memories.

It might just be the way a weak sunlight hits the distant clouds, or the violet tinge along the low horizon. Or just the way the leaves on the eucalyptus are swaying in an almost imperceptible breeze, or how the sky seems brighter right after the sun dips below the hills. Whatever it is, it recalls an earlier time in my life, and that to me is more worthy of further investigation than a visual spectacle. The psychology of it all, nostalgia, buried emotions... it's all there. And when I'm painting these kinds of views, I tend to dig deep within in search of something at the core of my identity. I can't articulate it or put my finger on it, but it's there. I can feel it.

Delta moods, 6.5 x 12 inches, oil on linen

The wetlands is not a part of my childhood. But the humid sky is. And the atmospheric grays are. Actually, come to think of it I did spend my childhood surrounded by wetlands. Only mine were vast rice paddies. Very flat and in the growing season, very wet. I wonder if that has any baring on my being drawn to the delta landscapes? May be. In any case, I never grow tired of painting these kinds of landscapes.