"Desert Twilight" SOLD

Every so often, the usually cloudless desert sky is altered by a monsoon flow coming up from Mexico. It can be quite dramatic at times. As the storm season builds, evening skies are laced with the remnants of that days attempt to produce rain. The filtered light at dusk is an inspiring theme and one of the fleeting, precious experiences of living here in Tucson. There is something compelling and primal to the anticipation of nightfall. While much of my painting efforts are pure plein air on location, the extreme time limitations of the rapidly changing light make such scenery even more elusive than a nocturnal. In this studio painting, I wanted to capture that couple of minutes where the sun has already set and there is this momentary backlit, delicate, rosy glow.

I painted it like I proceed with my plein air pieces; wet into wet paint. The vast majority of it in one longer, continuous session, to preserve the spontaneous gestural feel.