Mail Box - stage 1

I'm going back to the theme of signs of human intervention within vast natural landscapes, this one being a mail box by the road in the boondocks of New Mexico. There is a path running from the left to some unknown shack out of the picture at right. These pictures are kind of bittersweet in that somebody is struggling against nature to survive in such an environment somewhat made more threatening by the approaching (?) storm... on the other hand it is kind of a celebration of human beings being able to do this in the first place... another in my The Big Sky series of paintings.
This is the tonal underpainting stage and was first "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin. Then when it was dry enough the tone was put in with a rag using the same paint mix.
Oil on linen 30" x 20".