Behind the Guest House

Behind the Guest House

10x8, soft pastel

Another stab at plein air painting yesterday.  My friend Tina and I are both a bit shy about painting in public...mainly because we're new at plein air...and fairly new at painting landscapes...and actually (for me anyway) only a year into using soft pastels. Together, we build each other's confidence and laugh a lot in the process.  Every outing is an adventure and there's always something we forget to bring.  This time for me it was bug spray.

We drove around for awhile and found a gorgeous property along the Boise River.  The Boise River is much like the Snake River with many twists, turns and in shallow areas branches off on occasion.  With permission from the landowner we painted along one of the branches behind his guest house.  It was an absolutely picture perfect day (at least for a few hours) before a late spring thunderstorm rolled through.  By that time though, we had packed up our gear and were enjoying a scrumptious lunch at a favorite local cafe.