"View of Perdinal " by artist Brenda Hofreiter

I painted this plein air painting while on a trip to New Mexico. This location is near the Echo Amphitheater , in Carson National Forest, outside Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, NM.

It was a blisteringly hot afternoon in August and I sought shelter from the relentless sun under the picnic area in the Amphitheater. Fortunately, it gave me this wonderful vantage point for Pedernal, a mountain range made famous by Georgia O’keeffe, who lived and painted in Abiquiu in the 1940’s. It is quite unique in appearance and once you have seen it, you will be able to recognize it from any angle. I felt like I really came to better understand O’keeffe, and her work after seeing her painting sites and painting in some of the same locations. It is no wonder to me why she chose to live and paint there. It is breathtakingly beautiful and it has views that are heavenly at every turn. It was so refreshing to be painting the beautiful colors of the American Southwest. I hope you will enjoy my rendition of the mountain. I had a pleasant afternoon attempting to capture it’s beauty. Here is a photo of me painting under the shelter of the picnic area. You can't even see Pedernal in the distance in this photo. Which just proves the point that the eye is WAY better than a reference photo when it comes to creating art.