Virgin River paintings

I spent the week in Hurricane, Utah (pronounced hur-a-cun) working on the new High-school gym floor. it was a much bigger job than I had anticipated, but due to dry time I had a few hours to paint while I was there.

All three of these paitnings are oil on panel, 5x7 inches. I have been doing these small paintings as a means to simplifying and expediting the plein air process. This first painting is from Snow Canyon near St. George, I'm sure I could spend a month down there painting nothing but Snow Canyon. It seems a little smooshy, possible because I was videoing myself while I painted it. my plein air box broke as I packed up to leave...

This second painting is looking west toward Washington from Hurricane just as the sun came up at 7 am. I didn't want to drive very far because I needed to get to the job and get a good start on the day. As it turned out just finding a location and getting to work paid off as it usually does.

The last painting is of the Virgin River. I started at 6:30 am, after I put the last coat of paint on the "HURRICANE" lettering around 5:30 in the morning. I called this "promising day" maybe because I could see the light at the end of the tunnel on this gym floor, but the sun coming up in the east toward Zions Park could is also quite inspiring.