2 Small Landscape Paintings of Arizona

A storm in the Painted Desert, 9"X12", oil on canvas, Bruce Black.

A Storm in the Painted Desert, 9"X12", oil on canvas, Bruce Black. Studio pic.

I have recently finished these small landscape paintings.  The First, is of a mountain in the Painted Desert.  Storm clouds are gathered behind it, just beginning to release their rain in a violet curtain.  Yellow light fills the horizon just below the dark clouds, and this light is reflected onto the beautiful mountain.  This mountain, a large hill really, is full of color.  Each band is of a different tone, sometimes red, sometimes purple, and sometimes a greenish blue.  Growing up in Arizona, you see these types of hills out in the corners of our state.  Often, they have been made from volcanic ash that heaped itself together millennia ago.  They have a strange, mystical quality and stark beauty. 

Light on Sedona Cliffs, 9"X12, oil on canvas, Bruce Black.

Light on Sedona Cliffs, 9"X12, oil on canvas, Bruce Black. Studio Pic.

The second painting is actually from a watercolor I did years ago.  It is of a cliff face in Sedona, all light lit up at sunset.  To me, this painting feels like sunlight coming through the windows of a cathedral.  Driving home from my family cabin in Northern Arizona, I come down a hill that puts the Sedona cliffs right in my view.  I have driven that road so many times, and each time those Sedona cliffs are a different color as the clouds move above them. If you have ever been to Sedona, you know what I am talking about.  Arizona has the most amazing sky and light. It is always changing!

Each of these landscape paintings are 9" X 12" on stretched canvas.  I used Cobra water mixable oil paints.  I hope you enjoy them!