Desert Woodpile

I was staying at St. Andrews Abbey for an Art Retreat. I had arrived, unloaded, moved in, and wanted something close by to paint that afternoon. The woodpile by the dirt road out back provided an opportunity to use an 8" x 16" panel. The challenge was to simplify the textural interest of the woodpiles. The chaos of the log pile on the left and the orderly stacked pile on the right separated by a path to the background hill provided contrast both visual and conceptual.  When I chose to paint this, I was thinking, 'I wonder if I could paint that and make it work as a composition.'  Mission accomplished, I like it. Valyermo, May 2014