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Chasing the Light in Palm Desert, California Landscape Painting

I often find myself heading out to paint during the golden hour to capture soft, warm sunlight. The quality of light is what I'm after and it is just fantastic especially for a lovely atmospheric painting. But, if you have ever attempted doing this, you know how rapidly the golden-hour light changes it can make the whole landscape look totally diferent within a matter of minutes. If only we could keep the beautiful light as long as we need to finish our painting!

To deal with that elusiveness, I try to remember the first impression and work with it throughout the end. This visualization is important. Our eyes may keep chasing the light but our mind's eye should see something that's fixed. Otherwise, the end result of our painting will be utterly confusing.

I had an opportunity to paint recently in Palm Desert, California on a balmy afternoon. Take a look at the photos below (sorry they are so small) and focus on the lighted area in the back. It all happened within an hour.