East of the Mountains

This is the title of David Guterson's second best seller book after "Snow Falling on Cedars". I've been thinking using this title for my painting a while. I think it's time for that. I painted at 4 - 5 miles south from Ellensburg after passing Shashuskin Canyon. After passing the canyon, the view from the hillside was spectacle. I pulled over and set up my easel. Although the colors and values are a little off and kids in a family who had a field trip to learn geology commented "it doesn't look like it". But I don't care what others think and I was actually pleased with the outcome. Originally I thought I wouldn't paint the barbed wire fence, but the stick provided a good guidance to define the positions of shapes in a wide open space. I took it in instead. I'll paint this in bigger format later this year.