Inspired by a post from John Quinn who visited Descano Gardens in March and raved about how nice it was; lots of flowers blooming, I finally got a chance to sneak out there for a few hours to see for myself.  He was right.  I rarely get a chance to paint plein aire.  My weakness is to trust myself and simplify the forms~it's a challenge for me.  Years ago, I met Greg Manchess at ComicCon and asked him about this.  He said you "mass the forms".  I feel much more comfortable with figure because it is harder.  But I would like to get away from figure to explore more "abstract" opportunities found in Nature.  Get away from the academics and work more purely with color compositions.  It will help me in Photoshop.