Chasing Rabbitbush and Buckwheat -- Plein Air Painting With Friends

Chasing Rabbitbush and Buckwheat © Marian Fortunati 12"x9" Oil on Canvas panel
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A group of women painters enjoyed a few days up near Kernville in Southern California this October.  We all were able to briefly put aside the joys and obligations of family to spend a few days away together in a lovely river recreation area.  On the way up to our adventures, we stopped to paint the wild water and rapids of the Kern River and the next morning we painted a more placid river as it is seen further north.

After a lunch break and a walk through the cute little town, we set off to find a spot to paint the beautiful fields of rabbitbush and buckwheat that we had enjoyed seeing on the way up.   Well, what we thought would be an easy jaunt turned epic as we wandered far afield.  Although we saw

Marian painting in Kern

some pretty amazing sights we really couldn't find what had drawn us to the area in the first place. 

Finally we found an area near the Kern River that was just beautiful.  We all raced to set up our easels and paint because the sun was dropping behind the mountains quickly and we didn't have very much time to capture the backlit bushes and trees.   Never the less we had another terrific time.

Laura painted down closer to the river, but Diane, Sharon and I were up on the hillside looking down toward the river.

Painting is a joy, but it is also an activity that brings us to be in places that we might not normally be.  We see more of our world than we might have.  We get to see the world in different ways than we might have.  Painting provides a lens that allows us a bit more beauty, awe, and joyousness than we had before we looked at the world through artists eyes.

 

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