Along the Bear Creek Trail
I hiked up Bear Creak just outside Telluride and stopped to paint at an overlook. I liked the way the nearby mountains framed the distant mountains with a curve. As I was painting, a couple sat on a nearby log so I put them into this sketch.
Elk Herd
Yesterday while I was painting the iconic view of Ajax Peak, which towers over Telluride, a herd of elk came to the meadow which was on my left. Despite my excitement at seeing a herd of 50 elk, it was too late for me to switch my painting topic.
I went back this morning to the same spot in hopes that the elk would return and painted most of this scene before the elk herd finally came down off the mountain. You can see in the photo below that the elk kept their distance from me. It was hard to make out their individual shapes, so I just added my impression of the herd as they made their way along the far side of the field. If the elk had been there from the start, I might have topped the painting at the cottonwood trees in order to emphasize the elk. As it is, I made the herd proportionally larger than the actual scene.
Back in ColoradoNow that we are back in Colorado, I am reacquainting myself with the colors and shapes on the San Juan Mountains. So many greens and so many different kinds of rocks and cliffs. And then showing the snow on the mountain tops is another kind of challenge. Fortunately, I have times to figure this out.
My friend gave me a gorgeous bouquet of hollyhocks. It is not a flower we see much of out here in California, and every time I passed them today I kept thinking how much fun they would be to paint. I finally gave in and am so glad I did!
Ducks!
What could be more exciting than seeing ducks at the park? I really liked the parallels between this mom and her child. They stood in the same way, taking it all in, seeming to love from the depths of their hearts, all the parts of Lake Murray.
Along a Forest Path
I have quite a few unfinished paintings from my recent trip. I knew when I started this one, that I wouldn’t have enough time to finish it, but I did get the sweep of the road and the lean of the trees down on my paper before I left Søndersø, in Denmark. It was a little strange to look at the chalk lines on the paper and then to try and recreate the look, feelings, and colors of that afternoon.
Travel is wonderful but it is ever so nice to be home again, especially with sunflowers and irises to keep me company while I adjust to this time zone. I wanted a simple focus and so exaggerated the large shapes of the flowers and vase and then blocked in fairly flat color.
Deliberate Sketching 