Hidden Gems

My wife and I are road trip junkies; every weekend finds us lost somewhere in the hills and valleys surrounding Buffalo. This is a great time of year, full of freshly mown grass, bright blue skies and roadside stands bursting with nature's bounty.

Our artists' eyes dart along the landscape, looking for interesting ideas and compositions. This work in progress, "Memorial Day," was a happy accident. As we were driving around the village of Cuba, we missed a turn to a wildlife management area. I turned around by ducking into a small cemetery, still decorated with flags from Memorial Day the weekend before.

The aged stones agains the bright flowers and lush greens of the lawn and surrounding trees left a mark on me, and I knew I would have to mark up some paper when I got home.

This is the first two colors, a very light gray and a dark gray. I'm very nervous about this one, as I need to create bright colors over the very dark gray. Please stay tuned as I try to navigate this one without it ending up in the print graveyard.