I Got the Bends

9x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper $100.
I just drove and ended up going many beautiful places. First, I realized that while the red rocks are stunning, it is the river which "floats my gondola" (as my brother Peter would say.) So I chased rivers. This is the Chama near Ghost Ranch. I love the way I could look from above and see a grand view. Just look at that bend will you!!!!
Here I concentrated first one a value/temperature underpainting and then using color to create the grand space.

February 23, 2008, Painting at Ghost Ranch

14x7 1/2, pastel and watercolor on board
Yesterday I found another old picture of me painting. It was inside a cookbook; go figure?! It is a black and white photo that I was given by a stranger when I was painting at Ghost Ranch. I always liked it so today I was ready to give it a try. I like painting from black and white photos. It's as if some one gives me a "fly free" card. (Sort of like get out of jail free, but different cuz painting is never a jail.) I feel totally free to find my own color. What do you think?