Top of the World, 16 x 20, oil.
This was painted last month on the last day of painting at the Los Gatos Plein Air Invitational. We’d made an agreement that I’d return to the vineyard at the end of the week…but when I got there the third gate was locked. It later turned out that the owner had been called for jury duty. Anyway, I looked around and noticed that where I was was plenty good enough for painting-overlooking a magnificent view…so I set up. A friendly woman bounded over to ask what I was doing. It turned out she owned the property that I was on. But we hit it off, and she even invited me to stay at a tree-house she’d built for guests (I won’t bore you with how that turned out–let’s just say, I’m not so good with heights). My host had sent her husband to check that I was okay, since I called her before I realized that it didn’t matter. The woman and my host (the husband) also got acquainted. It was a regular party, on top of the world, in the middle of nowhere. They all finally left and I got to work. I was shooting the piece when I thought it was done, and it too (like the vineyard painting before it) went flying into the ground, picking up authentic gravel, twigs, etc. I did my best to get that off, and also to keep painting, since it seemed like I was not done after all. It really was a magnificent view, and I was “on top of the world” in more ways than one.