Royal Arches Rising in the Mist

"Royal Arches Rising in the Mist". was created from a plein air study I painted on a cold winter afternoon, the day after Christmas in Yosemite. As I worked, an incredible and mysterious mist rolled in, drifting through the valley and shrouding the landscape. At the same time, the granite face of Royal Arches was bathed in a fleeting golden light, glowing warmly as the afternoon quickly gave way to dusk. A shadow brushed across the sunlit rock in a swift, mesmerizing motion—there one moment, gone the next.