Lookout Mountain 11″ x 14″ oil painting by Tom Haas – Arizona plein air Dec. 2018

Pinnacle Peak 11″ x 14″ oil painting by Tom Haas – Arizona plein air Dec. 2018

These paintings were inspired by outdoor painting trips in Arizona. For Lookout Mountain in north Phoenix (16th Street and Greenway), I arrived at 10 AM hoping for great light and shadows. Nature did not disappoint including winter blossoms, grasses and cottontail rabbits everywhere.   Tom Haas

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN is one of the smaller units of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. PINNACLE PEAK is a granite summit in far-north Scottsdale, Arizona, measuring 3,169 feet high at its peak.

When the weather isn’t as lovely as it was on these mid-December days, wind, snow, rain and bugs can be some of the challenges plein-air painters experience. In Sedona, Arizona, a couple of curious skunks pushed Tom’s paint box over a ledge. In Wyoming, a large buffalo walked up behind him then jumped over fence! There was the time the trail to his van covered with snow while he worked under an umbrella; the times he painted from the back of his van for shelter from sunshine that turned to misty rain; and the wildlife that came to share his space including bear cubs followed by mama requiring a hasty retreat.