Rush Hour in the Jordan Valley

This painting is based on the goat herds that I saw coming home every night when I was in the Jordan Valley this spring. Patient, timeless animals. So much history in their faces and the sound of their shuffling feet.

Goat herds remind me of water flowing over the landscape. They appear to be almost one organism but in this painting I remind myself that each creature has it's own life, story and character. Similarly I try to remember not to generalize groups of people. Everyone has a specific story.

I was playing here with all the browns in my pallete. Burnt umber, raw umber , Van Dyck and blues, black and my Naples yellow light.

You can see what this painting looked like a month ago here. I like the white but it made the goats look like ghost goats.

And here it was a little while ago with an apple of Sodom plant that I didn't like.