Bonita Museum and Culture Center hosted a Plein Air Paintout today to open its cross-border exhibition, Beyond the Border. Bonita is a small city between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, and is in a perfect location for a dual show. The show runs all June.

I painted in an old grove of eucalyptus with a thick carpet of fallen leaves and bark. It was a cold and gray morning initially, and the interplay of the near-white tree trunks against the hills and sky was striking.