I painted this mission on a recent trip to San Antonio. My friend, Robert arranged for the plein air Austin group to do a paint out here. When we arrived at the mission it was overcast. I debated on a vantage point for a long time before finally picking this one. It was a busy day and this was slightly off the path. I liked the way you could see all the angles and I have been working on perspective so I thought this would give me a workout. That was just part of the problem because halfway through my painting, the sun popped out and completely changed the way it looked. It was much prettier in the sunlight but oh what a challenge this day was!

I painted this at my friend Brook Anne's property on Barton Creek. It was a cool overcast Spring morning when we started. Everything was a different shade of green so we looked around for something that would present some contrast. I chose to paint the waterfall. I liked the dark rocks peeping out among the white running water. Painting turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought that morning because it began to drizzle on us. It seemed to grow heavier by the moment and I finally had to get out my umbrella to finish.

I began this painting on a cloudy winter day. I was having trouble deciding what the painting was all about until the sun broke through and lit up the rock in mid ground. It just shouted happiness on this bleak looking day.

I painted Eric in an open studio situation. He had a regal look about him as he posed in his black and red kimono. I wanted to capture the proud look on his face. His beautiful dark eyes were windows into the soul. My point of view was almost entirely in the light so I tried to use subtle color changes to reflect the planes of the face.

9X12 Oil on board
$950.00 framed