Chapparal Road – Daily Painting
Chapparal Road – 2.5 in x 3.5 in – ACEO – oil on gessoed matboard
This miniature oil painting was inspired by our recent trip up to Idyllwild. Along the way we passed through an area of chaparral, at the edge of the pine forest. Within a few hundred feet this sagebrush and scrub began to give way to tall pines such as those I painted earlier in Idylllwild Slope.
One thing that I’ve discovered by painting oils this small (the size of a sports trading card) is that it prevents me from getting too fussy with tiny details. I suppose it would be the equivalent of painting with large brushes on a 9 x 12 canvas. It’s all a matter of scale. Painting this small forces me to make decisions about broad shapes and values, and not to paint every leaf on the tree. (Well, some of them, but not all.) It would make a swell over the sofa painting if you had a very small sofa!
Here it is approximately actual size. Fortunately I am very nearsighted, which makes it easier to paint closeup than far away.
