Color sketch for larger painting

I gathered so many ideas on this, our fourth trip through the US and Mexico. Part of me couldn’t wait to get back into the studio and start hammering out larger versions. The other part would be content travelling forever. Every trip is small paintings and sketches, photos, and museums and galleries for inspiration. This colour sketch is one of those ideas, painted quickly in the Arizona desert to work out the colour before committing to something bigger. As I get better at painting I see differently, and pull different things out of nature.

• Original oil on birch panel, 10 × 8 in.
• Painted en plein air at Arizona, February 2020
• One sitting on location, not reworked in the studio
• Varnished with Gamvar for archival protection
• Ships unframed, boxed from Oliver; a floater frame on request