After the excitement of the SCVWS "Anything Goes" reception last weekend, I'm back to fitting in a plein air session each week. This time I chose an excruciatingly hot day and sat out on my deck, looking across to the corner of the backyard. I simplified the scene somewhat-included the picnic table-omitted the chairs, expanded the shrubs, shrunk the brick terrace, etc. I'm still working on depicting layers of foliage; I tried a couple of techniques here. I'm pleased with the way the umbrella came out-patterns of light and shadow on the various segments were very tricky.
