Scree Trees

 

Click Here to Bid (4x3in. - GOUACHE - starts at $50)

We use an app called "All Trails" to find most of the hikes we go on. They are rated as easy, moderate or hard. This one was ranked moderate, but the comments said some people might consider it hard. It was about 2+1/2 hours of lung-busting, heart-breaking UP, so we tended to agree with HARD. And the lake they promised at the end? We got a tiny peek of it from the top, WAY down the other side of the mountain, with no discernible trail to get there. The hubs and I agreed pretty quickly that we didn't want to go down just to come back up again. The silver lining of this particular hike was this scree field & cliffs about halfway up where I got some nice pictures. My favorite part is the way the shadows change colors depending on where they're pointing, and what light is reflecting back into them (cool sky or warm reflected sunlight). I thought about it the whole way back down, on shaky legs.

As you might guess, we are back from camping. : ) A couple of highlights: we saw a bear! Just a small, black bear, and it ran away immediately, but it was pretty exciting - closest I've ever been to a bear in the wild. And I went to an art opening! My first social event in FOREVER (boy was I rusty)! And a very cool show - artist Turner Vinson, who has lived in this area for a year now and has made some awesome Youtube videos of him painting here. Check them out!

Also, here is my very first gouache plein air, done right up the street from my house. This is just PART of my view, y'all. I'm one lucky girl. It's going in my personal collection. : )

More Cloud than Mountain

Click Here to Bid (3x4in. - GOUACHE - starts at $50)

This is from one of my gazillion Sierra references. I get totally different composition ideas from my photos than I did from being there in person. Not better necessarily - just different.

Reflections of the Other Side

Click Here to Bid (3x4in. - GOUACHE - starts at $25)

I'm feeling especially glad that I've taken so many landscape photos! I didn't ever know what I was going to do with them, but I took pictures of whatever I liked. I will continue to do so. This is a scene from Colorado ... somewhere near Vail.

Blodgett Overlook

Click Here to Bid (3x4in. GOUACHE on illustration board)

For the last few days I've been kind of obsessively doing little gouache paintings. And I not only LOVE the process, I am loving the results. So I'm going to do a little experiment here and see if anyone is interested in buying them. I'll start the bidding at $25. This one is 3x4in. and painted on Crescent, hot press, 24-ply, illustration board. This picture to the right should give you an idea of the size.

Soon I will also post a list of my materials and some photos, for those who are interested. And I will also share a list of reasons that I've been accumulating about WHY I love gouache in particular. : )

This scene is from a hike we took last week when we were camping. It's near Hamilton, which is about an hour south of our new home, Missoula, MT.