Cobalt and Sunshine: This piece was painted with actual blue cobalt giving it the blue sky background. The yellow tones came from North of Martinsdale, MT in The Little Belt Mountains and is a fun clay-like soil that is great to work with. The green for the stem and leaves came from Sawmill Canyon also in The Little Belts closer to Judith Gap, MT. The brown tones came from the “streets” of Castle Town, a ghost town in The Castle Mountains that was a bustling and busy mining town in its day. And of course some black ash from a forest fire in the Kings Hill area of The Little Belts helps give the piece more depth and definition.

(Click image to see full painting)