Perhaps it is from childhood experiences but I love the feel and color of the high desert in California. This painting is on the road between the Salten Sea and Borrego Springs. Borrego is a few thousand feet higher in elevation.  This area had been under a prehistoric sea. I love the change in the geography's textures and colors and I even think of making a studio there.

I love the different layers and color change-ups in this painting. A great thing in about painting on location is that the reality of it is more interesting than what I would imagine; I wouldn't come up with this color scheme out of my head in a million years. Many artists aim to accomplish Platonic idealism by creating solely by their imaginations. I have found the results of that approach in others, and the few times I have done it, to be nothing but dull.  Feeling the heat, seeing the nature's unique color combinations, and sensing the spatial vibrations all go into a Plein Air painting; ain't no substitute for that!

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