(Tucson Is) My Kind of Town

Went to get my hair cut yesterday. After the debacle of the last 2 times, I switched to a different salon. On the walls of this new place are various paintings and even some framed quilts that are consigned by the shop from local artists. Must be something about the light here in Alabama, because yet I again my eyes were barraged by an array of chalky paintings with discordant colors. After sitting there criticizing the paintings in my head, I decided to see if I could paint what I preach.
I've always wanted to paint a picture of home, especially now that I'm exiled from it. Honestly, I didn't know if I had it in me. Every landscape painting of Tucson I've ever done, with the exception of rough sketches, has turned out horribly. But I surprised myself and came up with something that's not too terrible. I can almost even tell what it's supposed to be. Sabino Canyon in the summertime. My brother and daughters were in the original photo I worked from, and I took them out. Yes, I worked from a photo. Not as good as real life, but it was about 40 degrees outside and windy. Not ideal plein air conditions, and dead grass/trees just aren't interesting enough for me to want to paint right now.
Just for fun, I painted some iridescent medium in the sand, so it glimmers slightly in person.

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