Lone Piñon
14×11″
Oil on gallery wrap canvas
©2014 Lucinda Howe

The dusty ochre colors of the New Mexico landscape form a dramatic background for the sculptural shape of the old piñon tree.

For this painting, I experimented with using a black gesso ground.  The effect is not as vibrant as a red ground under the greens of the southeast, but it is a good base for the red rocks of the southwest.