Light

"Be At Peace"

In the February issue of Watercolor Artist there is a demo on creating backlighting by Karen Holman.
I decided to try out her techniques.  I used my own composition but her instructions and colors.

Masking of snow areas.  She also mentions masking 3 circles in the center of the composition.  I evidently did that part wrong, so if you try this, leave those out.

She uses a triad of colors, quinacridone gold, Q burnt orange, and indigo.
Wet the paper, apply Q gold in the center, then a ring of orange, then indigo.
Blend the colors by using a fine spray (bottle) of water, spraying from center out

Let the paper dry.  Mix your greens and push them under the masking where your evergreen branches are

Then, using a stiff brush spatter aureolin and Qgold, and a little indigo, spray lightly with water to blend colors

Use indigo and a little rose to create the shadows, paint in the tree trunks and branches

Remove the masking, then wet each snow shape and create shadows using cobalt blue.
This would not have been a bad painting if it was not for the circles in the center.

Be At Peace
I painted this from a photo I took up near Red Mountain Pass last winter while snow shoeing.
There is no back lighting in it, but I like the feel of it.

MOAB

View From Dalton Wells

Last fall while camped outside of Moab, Utah, I took a few photos of the area to use as reference for painting.  The above piece is a result of one of those photos.

We refer to our family in Golden, CO, as MOAB because of their first name initials.  Maia, Owen, Anita, and Brent.

This next bag is for my great niece, Maia, the M in MOAB, who turns 12 the end of this month.  She has many interests, including her cats, Wilbur and Orville; sewing, cooking and outdoor activities that include biking and learning about nature and the environment.  Last I heard, she wants to be a marine biologist.

View From Dalton Wells
10x14, matted to 16x20

Long Winter Nights

Coal Pits Wash, Zion National Park

I struggle with what to do with myself during the long winter nights.  It doesn't matter whether I am home or on the road.  5pm til 10am is a lot of time to kill, when only 8 of those hours is spent sleeping.
Two small paintings (sketches, 4x6"), and lots of patch sewing occupied some of this time while we were on the road in November.

I found some great buttons at an antique store in Hurricane, UT

Desert Vista

After returning home, all the patches were stitched together

And the handle was braided

Coal Pitts Wash

MORE FUN WITH BAGS

A Whale of a good time

August and September were pretty wet here.  We had showers and thunderstorms almost every day.  There was time in the mornings to get some exercise in usually before the rains started, but that left afternoons to fill.  Thus I completed 3 paintings and two patchwork bags.  Here are the last two bags in no particular order:

Another Spring Theme Painting

Service Berry Blooms Amongst the Quakies 

I used frisket to save some whites, then washed the paper with a light green

Another wash of green

The frisket has been removed from the aspen, and some details and shading added to the trees 

I used a sponge to create the look of foliage and have added the Service Berry limbs

Here the lower background has been darkened and the blossoms revealed.  I have added more detail to the trees and leaves around the blossoms
"Service Berry Blooms Amongst The Quakies"

The Colorful San Juans

Red Mountains 1 & 2 from Red Mountain 3

Blues and greens with a touch of lavender make up the distant peaks.  Using wet in wet technique I wet the red mountains and dropped in oranges and reds

After the mountains were dry, I used a stiffer, square brush to create the trees.  The another wash of color adding the grays on the peaks.  The white area in the lower right hand corner was going to be a foreground

After trying several options for the foreground on small pieces of watercolor paper, I opted out and continued the mountain

For the thin line of sky, I used a wash of yellow with a few drops of orange

Ironsides, Red Mountains 1 & 2

Recalling a High Country Spring

One of the favorite roads that head up into the mountains from Ouray, is County Road 361.
Locally known as the Camp Bird Road since it accesses the once huge and prolific Camp Bird Mine.
This dirt track also accesses Imogene Pass Road which climbs over 13000' then drops abruptly into Telluride.  If you continue past Camp Bird Mine and Imogene Pass Road, you will reach the iconic Yankee Boy Basin, where water tumbles from twin falls and wild flowers literally blanket a verdant basin from mid July through August.  We use the Camp Bird road all year as one of our exercise routes.  We love experiencing the changing seasons along this scenic byway.  

First wash on the mountain and sky, frisket saving whites where the quakies and snow will be

Second wash on the mountains and sky

adding evergreens and first wash for aspen leaves

Shadows and more evergreens

more detail and foreground

"Spring Comes to the Camp Bird Road"