Riding the Desert
6x8in oil on canvas board Not for sale
Riding in a car and not on a horse...
I have set up a system so I can paint in oils in the car when we take a trip.
Long trips are never quite as boring when you are the driver because the mind is occupied by doing something. Hubby prefers to drive so I paint. Easy to do with my small watercolor set up but I wanted to try oils. I decided to use the water soluble oils - best having no solvents in the car and using mainly a palette knife - easy to wipe clean - I have a set up shown below. I prop the little easel in the open glove compartment and hang a plastic bag off it too.
I start off with a view that captures a feeling in me and to rapidly try and capture as much of the image as possible. From then on, I use my memory plus colors I am seeing along the way as inspiration.
In the view below, the tint on the window made this photo a lot bluer than the closer mesa actually was, but does it matter? The point is to occupy myself with my favorite thing to do while riding with my favorite person who is occupying himself with...the road and my fav thing!
