Calliope

 This is a painting I finished a few years ago. It was done with oil paint and galkyd medium, which is good for doing paintings with lots of layers, because it dries quickly and is mostly transparent. If the galkyd layer is extra thick it sometimes dries with interesting textures, called alligatoring, like on the left side of the painting.

Calliope, oil on canvas, 11x14 inches.

Calliope, detail.

Calliope, detail of galkyd layers and alligatoring.

Enchanted Rock

I was lucky to spend the last weekend camping at Enchanted Rock. E rock is a huge, pink, granite mountain in central Texas. The outer layers of the rock slowly exfoliate and slide off, leaving giant boulders everywhere, and they're really fun to climb on. The environment is pretty brutal for most of the year, scorching heat and drought every summer, especially last year. Wildflowers here only have a few weeks of the year to get their business done, and this was the middle of the wet season, so the flowers were incredible.

Blue Bonnets on the Loop Trail. Enchanted Rock, Texas, March 2012.

 Exfoliation on Enchanted Rock, with people on top.

 Enchanted Rock, Texas, March 2012.

 Green as it ever gets. Enchanted Rock, Texas, March 2012.

False day flower, Commelineaceae family.

 Strawberry cactus flowers.

Lupinus texensis, Blue Bonnet, State flower of Texas.

Mystery flower.

Argemone mexicana, Prickly Poppy. 

Argemone mexicana, Prickly Poppy.