Palomar Mountain Fog
11 x 14 in.
Oil on panel
$1,150 framed
Available through www.Alexiapaints.com

Alexia Scott: On a trip up Mount Palomar, we reached the summit and were greeted with blue skies and billowing bright clouds. We walked and enjoyed the observatory. I hoped we could stay until after dark. However, the observatory grounds close at 3:00 in the afternoon to prepare for the business of searching the stars. We began our decent and stopped by a local restaurant for their homemade pie. This little cluster of civilization has a gift shop, woodland restaurant, post office and restrooms. In the time it took to eat our generous piece of apple pie, the clouds above had settled all around us providing a new view.

When I taught ink painting as part of my classes at Georgetown, I realized how I related to their working process. Meditate and visualize the landscape before you start and prepare your brush for each stroke.

I visit this spot often, and each visit seems to inspire a painting and has generated many pastel sketches. I travel with pastels, which allow me to just sit on the ground and work. Like all plein air painters, I would rather be outside than in, but traveling creates issues and that brings me back to the studio. I don’t consider myself a plein air artist but an artist who paints in plein air to prepare. Much like the ink paintings, I visualize the landscape before I paint. With this painting, I wanted to create a narrative on the canvas that was a little more than what I saw, but also what I enjoyed.

Sometime in April 2020, after nearly all shows were canceled, I built my e-commerce website. I began advertising in PleinAir Magazine because of an article I read by Eric Rhoads in his Sunday Coffee e-story. This article made sense to me, and I have enjoyed the personal contact with the people interested in my work. My work has changed a bit too and has become a little more local probably because I am often painting in my yard.

About each month I write my email art newsletter which contains short stories about painting, geology and pollinators. I hope you will take a look and join me at www.Alexiapaints.com.