In the late ’80s, I painted a series of large backdrops using Bill Alexander’s wet-on-wet oil painting technique. I’d watched his PBS show in the late ’70s and still had one of his painting kits. Bill Alexander was the mentor to Bob Ross, the guy who made this style famous later.

I built and stretched the canvases myself. They had to fit between the diagonal braces in my garage. My layout, the Redwoods and Pacific, was forest-themed. Wet-on-wet worked great for the scenery I wanted. Dense trees, rolling hills, and banks of fog spilling into the valleys.

That early version of the Redwoods and Pacific lasted about four years. Then I started planning the current, larger layout. This time, I went with inkjet-printed backdrops instead of oil paintings. Easier, faster, and no nasty thinner fumes.

A different approach, but the same goal: capturing the magic of the Redwoods.

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