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This is a recent sketch, one that I painted in December at Barnett Ranch.

While I was packing up my gear that morning, I found myself thinking about bunchgrass, and the color of buckwheat this time of year; only skeletal remains from the previous season, but they dominate the landscape in winter.

When I arrived at the preserve and began setting up, I decided it would be interesting to create a composition with a high horizon line and leave two thirds of the canvas to focus on the winter grassland. I chose red iron oxide (Venetian Red) for underpainting instead of the usual raw umber. Because Venetian Red is higher chroma; it gave me an opportunity to push color more than usual (and made a nice warm undertone for creating foreground textures.

I try to bring more than just technique to my plein air studies; I often mention that it is important for me to connect with why I am inspired to paint something.

For many years, we grew oat hay for our livestock. I loved the sound of it in the wind and the warm sweet scent of newly cut hay in the summer at dusk. The native grassland speaks to me in a similar way; each season is marked by its own distinct colors and textures.

Winter is the fallow season; frosty mornings, earthy rusty and gray.