Art Journal

This was a small island in a local lake partially submerged by high water.  The flooded inlet and the reflections around it were my main interest.

We're starting to see a few fall-like colors here and there now in some of the brush  and foliage. An overcast day - started to rain a bit after a while.

Flooded island, 8 x 10

I started this one a little after sunrise looking east. Many of the sunrises lately have been cloudless so I was glad to have the early morning cloud cover.  The sun was well up by the time I finished, starting to show through the patchy cloud cover occasionally.

Eastern View, 8 x 10

Here's a different view I did last week also at Sandstone Ranch. This is the old gravel road coming down to where they used to quarry the rock outcrop a hundred years ago. It's now mostly used by bikers and walkers and unfortunately trucks servicing the gas wells on nearby property.

The Old  Quarry Road, 8 x 10

Here a painting I did recently at Sandstone Ranch. This is along the Greenway in a shady spot near the river.

Along the Greenway, 8 x 10

We went to the mountains for the day near Gold Hill in a place that has a good view of the range of mountains to the west and I did this painting. It's small, a little 6 x 12. Never got around to posting this because I forgot to photograph it.

View from Gold Hill, 6 x 12

This was painted at a cabin where the PAAC paintout group from Estes Park gathered last week.  I'm not sure which peaks these are but they are part of Rocky Mountain Park.

View From the Cabin, 8 x 10

The Georgetown CO plein air event was held the weekend of July 26-27th. This year I painted in Silverplume, an old silver mining town just up the interstate and uphill from Georgetown. It has a lot of old houses and ancient mining town buildings and is interesting to walk around in. There's even a coffee shop in one of the old buildings on Main Street.

There is also a quick draw in downtown Georgetown on the second day. This year the competition allowed only two paintings into the show, although I actually did four paintings. My favorite was this one, a falling down wall attached to an old historic building still standing. Makes you wonder what originally stood there and it's history, who were the people and what were their stories.

If Walls Could Speak, 14 x 8

We had a rainy morning for a change and I could not pass it by - so unusual and wonderful.  Macintosh Lake was  socked in with low clouds and fog, and the mountains were faint to the north and invisible to the west. I attempted to catch this scene from across the lake with the low clouds and fog. I've seen some wonderful fog paintings by Marc Hanson and Josh Elliot so wanted to see what I could do with this scene. It's back to super hot and dry again now. I'm looking forward to fall's cooler weather.

Socked In, 8 x 10.

How do you paint something when you've painted it a million times in every conceivable weather condition, month  and season, from every direction? This is a problem. When I want a quick painting practice, with not much time available I go to Hamms Pond since its so close by. But it's getting so I feel like I've just about painted every scene to be found there. Nevertheless I went back there again last week and did this quick painting of the cattail banks on the far side of the pond, a slightly different view than I've done in the past.

Cattail Banks, 8 x 10

In July I went to Rabbit mountain early in the morning and did a plein air painting of the shadows coming over the ridge.  The light kept changing while I was there with cloud cover coming and going lighting up various parts of the landscape in different configurations. I liked the way the small painting  turned out so I decided to make a larger painting of the scene with a few changes, going with one of the lighting variations, with the foreground hill in shadow.

Here are both of them.

Rabbit Mountain Ridge, 8 x 10, above and 

Rabbit mountain, 16 x 20, below.

Here's a scene I've painted before in different seasons and times of day.  It's a scene along the Greenway by the river where we often go walking.  The river first broke through and made this channel in the big 2013 flood and swept away the walking path next to it. They have since rebuilt the path and relocated it a bit leaving us with this great view of the river. Foliage and trees are rapidly growing in so someday this view is no longer going to be visible.

Greenway Sunset, 16 x 20

This Plein Air Painters of New Mexico annual member show will be going up on Aug 31 - Sept 30 at the
Legends of the West Gallery  in Santa Fe. The opening reception will be on
 Aug 31 -6-8 pm.  Here are my two pieces that are in the show.

Quiet morning, 8 x 10.

April Sky, 8 x 8

These three paintings will be going to the 3 Square Art  show of plein air paintings at the end of August. They will be on display until the end of September. 3 Square Gallery is a gallery in Ft. Collins CO.

Spring Thaw, 8 x 10,  Spring Energy, 9 x 12,  Hidden Away, 8 x 10

This was a painting I did in July at Walden Ponds. I walked in to Duck Lake and took the trail around to the back side of Sawhill Ponds. I found this view in shady spot on the far side of the lake.  

Sawhill Reflections, 9 x 12

This painting was done from one of the last high switchbacks on the Fall River Road in Rocky Mt. Park. As I sat down on a bare spot on the slight ridge next to the road to paint,  the clouds started to roll in and by the time I packed up it was starting to throw some lightening and thunder. This was a pretty fast painting, maybe 45 minutes or so. Conditions were changing fast. Meanwhile a couple elk wandered past crossing the road, which got all the park visitors driving past get all excited. We drove the last little stretch to the top where the visitor center is and it began to pour.

The Building Storm, 8 x 10.

Here's a painting from Buckingham Park. I keep going back hoping to do a really good water painting, so this is maybe the 5th or 6th painting I've done there of these rocks and the water. It's tricky.

Spring Runoff, 9 x 12

Here's a studio painting I recently finished.  We've had some wildfires start up nearby in the foothills in the last week, some of which are still not completely under control, making the skies very smoky. This painting was done from some photos I took on a walk at Pella Crossing on one of those smoky days. Everything turns sort of pink. It was probably not a great idea to be out there hiking around in the polluted air but things really look different .

Wildfire Sky, 16 x 16