Watering Hole

 

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This is a scene I've painted before, but last time, there were horses. Plus the last one was in oil, and this is gouache. One great thing about gouache is that I can go back and work on it as many times as I want/need. Oil, on the other hand, gets a little finicky. Subsequent darks dry chalky, and if you go back too soon, the under layers are tacky. Plus you always have to keep in mind the fat over lean thing. With gouache all you have to worry about is overworking in general.

Clouds Rising

 

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This is from a photo I took back in summer. Our Montana winter has been really beautiful as well, but we haven't ventured out nearly as much. I'm sure I will get braver with time. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to the great hiking opportunities summer brings!

Feeding the Pool

 

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This is the "other" creek painting I promised, done on a smoky day, but lets call it "overcast." I went out again recently on a sunny day, but I guess because it's getting later in the year, the sun wasn't peeking into the canyon in the same way. I finally set up to paint a scene in shadow, only to have the sun suddenly blast over the cliff and completely change what I was looking at before I had a chance to get it down. I felt pretty frustrated, and came home after wiping my panel twice. It happens.

Meanwhile, I have been PLAYING with all kinds of ideas for what's next. I am having SO much fun that I don't think I want to stop anytime soon. : ) So if you don't hear from me for a while, just know that I'm enjoying myself. And maybe someday, something will come of it.

End of Summer Trickle

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We've had smoke in our valley off and on for a month or more, mostly from the California fires. Amazing that it can travel this far! But the water in this creek is at such a perfect level, I went back anyway, even though the smoke essentially made it look overcast. It helped that I had made plans to meet a new friend there, which was great motivation! And we had a lovely time. 

The upside of overcast is that the light doesn't change much, so you have longer to ponder, and you don't have to worry about the sun going behind a cliff or something. I did 2 little studies, and they were both too dark (a problem I often have painting outside), so they took some work once I got home. But I'm very happy with them now. I'll show you the other soon.

Blodgett Creek is Clear

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This is another one from Blodgett Canyon. The calm parts of the creek were oh so clear. I need to go back soon to see if the torrential parts are any different now that it's later in the summer, and almost all the snow up high is melted.

Colorado Rocky River

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Here's one from Colorado, somewhere in the Rockies. The sun was shining strongly in the distance, but everything else was in shadow. I find this very difficult to paint, and even more difficult to photograph with any accuracy. I promise the painting is better than the photo.

Dammed Creek

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This is a scene we found a few weeks ago on a camping trip. We hiked up Bass Creek for about an hour until it opened up into this. I love hikes with a payoff.

In the Middle of Nowhere

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On my drive down to the Sierras this year, I decided to do the 12 hour drive in 2 days rather than my usual 1. So I had extra time to explore. I thought I would stop a lot to take pictures, but often there was nowhere to pull over, or I passed by too fast and didn't want to turn around, or ... some other excuse. I did pull off on one side road, maybe an hour away from my destination, following a sign to a trailhead. Least of all I could stretch my legs. After about 20 minutes down a dirt road, I finally found the trail. It was completely abandoned, which felt a little ominous, but I explored it anyway. And found this lovely little creek, deep in the forest. And a wonderful hawk feather, which I keep in my car to remind me. To always explore, even if it's a little ominous.

Moving Water

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This was a quicker moving creek, from the smaller pond to the waterfalls. It's difficult to paint what the moving water looks like, because it is constantly changing. But I figured it's the same with waves, and people manage to paint that. So I gave it my best.

Rock Solid

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This is another High Sierra plein air piece, done at the "upper pond." The water is pure snow melt. The snow it was melting from was literally less than 50 yards away, as well as the base of the tippy top of the mountain. Some of us drank the water straight, and some filtered just to be safe. Here's Michele, getting her sketch down:

Running Through Shadow

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This is another one from some photos I took early in the morning in the Sierras. My camera couldn't capture this scene whole, so I took some photos of the mountains, trees and grass, and some of the creek in shadow. Then I worked some Photoshop magic and wove them together just enough to let me see the relationships. It was an experiment, and I'm diggin' the result.

Here is the whole crew from this trip: (L to R) Ernesto, Tia, Bill, Michelle, myself, Paul and Scott (excuse me, but all total bad-asses!!!!)

Finding a Way Across

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This is my personal favorite from the whole trip (into the Sierra Nevada Mountains). I know you're thinking - she could have painted that anywhere - why on earth did she go all the way into the mountains to paint a little creek?! But I did. And I will do it again.

I have to admit that part of the reason I love this one is because it was a beautiful spot on a perfect afternoon (here is a picture my buddy Scott took of me while I was painting it ). I was mostly alone (my favorite way to paint), and afterwards I packed up my gear and followed the creek  (and its many waterfalls) all the way up to where it met the vertical mountains you see - where a bank of snow was actively melting and forming the creek I had painted. It was peaceful and beautiful and just - the best day ever!

Christmas on the Creek

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On this day (in the Sierras) I started out painting with two of my buddies across the lake from camp. After a crappy little waterfall painting and a seriously mediocre attempt at a grand scene (with way too much in it for an 8x10!) I decided to hike back alone for an afternoon nap. On the way I noticed a little used "trail" heading up between two rocky areas, and decided to scope it out. After a while the trail petered out so I continued on, exploring, and found a whole "upper" meadow with streams and waterfalls and great views. Well, apparently there was another, easier trail from another direction, and 2 others from my group were already there! So we painted there the rest of the day and the next day as well.

I painted this particular scene from the bottom of a waterfall, looking downstream. Some big clouds were rolling in, and I decided I liked the scene best when the back, background was in cloud shadow. The reality though was that the shadows changed constantly, (which is my least favorite time to plein air paint) and to be quite honest I'm not sure you can tell that it's supposed to be sunny in the foreground. But ... I quite like it anyway, and I hope it works regardless.

Narrow Enough to Step Over

sold. (12x6in. - click image to enlarge)

I painted this one from a photo I took recently in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This little creek was near our camp, and one of the few that we could step over easily. There were plenty more that took a bit of navigating. I had a few unsteady moments, but never fell in the water. Amazingly.

Serenity Creek

sold. (12x6in. - click image to enlarge)

This is another one from the Sierra's. On this day I decided to hike back down a bit the way we had come, to some creeks I had seen. I found this lovely spot, near the trail. Right as I was finishing up, some dark clouds rolled in, so I hoofed it back to camp. I got in right before it started to rain, which was a great excuse to climb into my tent for an afternoon nap.

What a job!

Upper Creek

sold. (8x10in.)

This one is from our trip "east" this past summer, at Paulina Creek (south of Bend). I walked along it for a good ways one day by myself. Long enough that my family got worried and came looking for me! The day was mostly cloudy but eventually the sun came out and that's when I started taking pictures. I have to admit it's the light and shadows that I'm really motivated to paint in a landscape.

Rock Creek

sold. (12x6in.)

Little creeks like this make me very happy. I can't really explain why. My favorite thing is to explore them by myself. I found this beauty at a park in California last year, and snapped a few pictures.

I did this painting over an old one that wasn't so great. I don't do this often, but last summer a friend was telling me about Gamblin FastMatte, so I tried the titanium white to paint over the yicky painting. (notes: the old painting was completely dry; I scraped off any thick bits of old paint with my palette knife; the fastmatte didn't go on opaque like I expected!) I was very happy with the process and the result.

I've done another interview, this one about materials, in case you're interested.

In the Flow

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This was an experiment that I think TOTALLY worked. If I do say so myself. Which I am.

I took the photo reference for this when I was at Sweet Creek earlier this year with my painting buddies, Sue and Patti. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. I had the idea to go sort of abstract, using the shapes of the rocks as a guide for the composition. And that's pretty much how I started out, exaggerating colors here and there and making everything blocky like I do. I think it didn't end up being very abstract, but I love it anyway.

Clearwater Creek 2

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Pre-posted while I'm on vacation. I won't be able to ship anything (paintings or books) until I get home (at the latest) July 8th. My apologies!

This is the second one from Clearwater Creek. I painted it from a photo I took a little earlier in the day - around 8am. You can see the shadows are longer, and there's more dark in the grasses and trees. But over-all things are darker, and I think that's because of the photo. I especially didn't get as much life/color in the creek bottom. BUT, I feel like I designed the whole thing a little better, and arranged the rocks more artfully. And there is more contrast where the sky reflects in the water.

I would probably learn a TON if I painted this one over and over about 100 more times. Like Monet and his water lillies.

Clearwater Creek

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Pre-posted while I'm on vacation. I won't be able to ship anything (books or paintings) until I am back home (at the latest) July 8th. My apologies!

This is the first of two paintings of these scene. The location is Clearwater Park in Springfield, OR. This first one was painted from life, at about 9am. I'll post the second one tomorrow.