Road to Sugarwood

Original 21" x 47"

One beautiful autumn morning, I decided to hit the dusty trails in the mountains near the town that we live in. I ended up on a road that led to a property owned by some friends of ours, the Oxley family. I got out of the car to wander around a bit and was totally awestruck by the colorful panoramic view before me. While I was breathing in the splendor, a Northern Harrier (sometimes called a marsh hawk) flew past me, low over the field, and circled back several times. I watched him till he left the area, then I continued down the road to the Oxley property, which Alan and his wife Bonnie refer to as “Sugar Wood”. The view on this road was so expansive that to show all of it would have required a board at least 70 inches in length, which would have been too cumbersome for my small studio. So this painting is a composite, just a slice of the beauty found along the road to Sugar Wood.