Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Over the river and through the cacti.


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One of the interior designers that I work for lives in Chular, 10 miles south of Salinas. It’s a beautiful drive to her house, so I enjoy making the trip once in a while. I always see scenes out her way that I think would be fun to paint, but usually forget to take my camera. Last time I didn’t forget and got some great photos. This little prickly pear patch is around the corner from her house.
I enjoyed working on this painting and am looking forward to carving out some more painting time.
The husband and I are in an informal book club with a few other couples and we just read Sweet Thursday, a follow up book to Cannery Row by Steinbeck. It was really fun to read the stories and colorful descriptions of the places so close to home. It feels more and more like I am driving through a painted landscape when I travel through the area.

2 comments:

Tracy Kendall said...

As soon as I saw this, it reminded me of a short story I read ages ago. I dug around on my bookshelf and found it: The Chrysanthemums (in The Long Valley by John Steinbeck). The scene is a little different (a cart with horse & burro instead of a tractor, and chrysanthemums instead of cacti) but it brought the story to my mind immediately. It's set in the Salinas Valley on a foothill across from the Salinas River. "Then she whispered, 'That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there.'" Beautiful, Katie.

Scarlett Fiona Reed said...

I love this painting, Katie! You're so talented I had no idea you painted too! looking forward to seeing more :)