"Sunflowers at Weber Ranch" I love to torture myself and sunflowers can definitely do it. How many variants on yellow can you get? A lot!

"Explosion of Flowers" 90 minutes, and old pot, with a new bouquet. Stopped by a sudden influx of clouds and spot of drizzle. Kinda fun, unfinished, I thought...

"Bodega Hwy. at Twilight". Quick and to the paint.

"Cows in the afternoon" Down the road from the tractors were young dairy cows, always fun to paint. More temperature variations and gawky, boney angles to capture. I love the moving target, sudden death quality of capturing them before they all decide to bolt. Few are composite cows as one set of legs, or head, etc, got added to the cow shape that moved, but the seated ones stayed contented. After all, they are CALIFORNIA cows.

"Morning Light ,Arnold Drive". These were chardonnay grapes, and I got to stand in a drainage ditch for these, which started to fill with water as the irrigation system was leaking a few feet away...

"Fred's Reds" Fred Favero's vineyad, near the eastern edge of the county, and I ran into his sangiovese grapes. Grapes! Thought I'd paint more closeups this year as change of pace. Of course, if you paint one grape, you have to paint EVERY grape lest you get a purple blob. Interesting geometry to grapes and leaves, backilighting is fun to try to capture. Nice challenge to capture, while squatting downhill from the grapes. Boy was I stiff when this was done.

"One Man's Fancy". Found this collection of old Caterpillars off of Middle Two Rock Road, painted it over a wet failure that was wiped down to create a nice ground color. Someone observed that Caterpillar must use Cadmium Yellow Deep by the bucket, even though there is none used for this. I think that they are right about the color. More fun than Deere green to capture, unless it is in a golden field of Californaia grass.

"Old Red" I found this truck off of Cavanaugh Lane, outside of Petaluma, and was instantly inspired to paint it. In fact, it almost painted itself. The truck was missing so much grillework that the alternative title might be "Proof of the Importance of Dental Hygiene". A lot of old trucks at the gala, including Tim Horn's duo of old flatbeds, which won Artists' Choice for 2007.

This is my sixth year as a painter in Sonoma Plein Air. I managed to paint nine canvases, despite it being the opening week at the Academy of Art University. Whew! Here they are, all lined up prior to the gala event.