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Indian Head Mountain overlooking Borrego Springs glows an extraordinary red-orange-pink-brown as the very first rays of sun hit it. It lasts for a small window of ten minutes and then fades to the ordinary magnificence of the day!

Along with a good many of my fellow plein air painters I got up that first morning ( March 1, 2021) of the Borrego Invitational to capture that light on the mountain on a good sized piece of UART but it was devilishly frosty! My brain and fingers stopped working so I abandoned the idea, went inside for coffee and painted blissfully in the bright warm day instead! 

Failure often drives solutions as you know! It occurred to me to try again the next morning, better prepared with palette options already selected, the design already mapped out on a very small piece of sanded paper instead. I found humor too in fitting that huge mountain into a 5x7 format!

Within a day of hanging the framed piece (Blushing Mountain) on my wall in the Borrego Art Institute Gallery, it sold! And then wonder of wonders earned a 3^rd place in the competition judged by the eminent plein air painter Tim Horn.

Blushing Mountain, Pastel 5x7.

I borrowed this moment when my colleague Susie Hyer lifted her exotic arms to photograph the piece!