I found a place where I could see a row of juniper trees leading off to Mount Sneffels, some 30 miles from here. The repeating shapes of the rocks, the trees, and the mountains, contrasted with the meadow in the foreground. I took some liberties with the colors but think that overall it is true to my view.
This is a gouache painting on a 13 x 20 inch sheet of black Bristol paper.
One of my favorite subjects here in Colorado are juniper trees. Their round, irregular shapes catch my eye. In this vista, I really enjoyed their look along the edge of the meadow.
The many shades of green in the Colorado San Juan Mountains shift as the day changes. This sketch is from the late afternoon on Saturday. The deep greens from the forest are set off by the spring greens of the scrub oak on the forest floor, so different from the greens of San Diego.
I come from a very large family and this sketch shows the camping spots of the first arrivals being set up along my brother’s road. Already there are many more tents and campers spread out in all directions.
We are off to spend a few weeks on my brother’s 80-acres in Colorado. I sketched in the bumpy front seat as we left San Diego, and felt so happy to be on the road again.
This is to be a socially-distanced reunion with twenty or so relatives. We will spread our campers and tents out and eat separately. And with our masks, we will hike, socialize, play games and paint together. Our camper is packed with supplies and we should be good for a few weeks, as long as we all arrive without COVID, that is.
The Zoom model tonight had a reflective air about him and I tried to catch his expression in this sketch. I also liked the simple shapes of his face and worked to show those too.
Given that we are all still sheltering in place, the NYT crossword puzzle and a long afternoon helped to make this a pretty good Father’s Day for an awesome dad.
Something I am beginning to appreciate about Zoom is the visual distortion made by the camera’s placement. Usually, the part of the body farthest from the eye appears smaller than the closest parts, but with Zoom, it seems to be even more so. Tonight the camera was placed very close to the models’ left leg and hand, and so they are much larger than expected. I like the effect very much.
