Naomi Brown: Desert Glow

Painting in the alla prima method, Naomi Brown captures the saturated colors of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts

- Naomi Brown

I love painting the simple beauties I them in each of my paintings. It's, in a sense, putting them in a spotlight to show the viewer these hidden, delicate beauties found in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. Most of my landscapes spotlight a more close up subject in my painting, like a saguaro, Joshua tree or ocotillo. I usually paint from a photograph that I have taken, or I like to collaborate with photographers and combine our talents. I paint on canvas, ABS board and museum board. I simply start with some guidelines and sometimes some rough sketching on my surface. I always start with my sky, working down to the foreground. I am a simple painter and only use oil paints and mineral spirits.

Lately I have been drawn to saturated, warm colors of the Southwest deserts of California and Arizona. I've been really having fun working on paintings that take me under 12 hours to complete from start to finish. Working with these alla prima paintings has its challenges with working wet-on-wet with oil paint. It takes dedication and a game plan to complete one of these paintings, especially when they're larger in size. I love the challenge of knowing I have a small window of opportunity to let the paint magically work together while wet. I use oil from the tube and mineral spirits when I paint these alla prima paintings.