A new friend + good weather + lavender = a great paint-out!

A beautiful day at Red Ridge Farm

July means lavender's in bloom, and although I'm not participating in the Oregon Lavender Festival this year I didn't want to miss an opportunity to paint at one of the featured farms. Fellow pastelist Debbie Robinson and I have gotten to know each other at a couple workshops and decided to meet up for a day of plein air painting at Red Ridge Farms. What a beautiful location, and it even has an olive mill! It's larger and more developed than some of the other lavender farms and we had plenty of great scenes to choose from. That's half the battle--deciding what to paint! We started in the same location facing different directions, and then a couple hours later moved to new spots. As the day progressed the sun got too hot for comfort so we decided to finish up back in our studios. Come winter when the Oregon rains return, I'll pull the memory of this beautiful day out to warm my soul.

Debbie sketches a hillside for her 2nd painting

Two buddhas?