Fog at the River

Here is the painting I did on a foggy February morning a couple weeks ago.  The fog continued to hold on all through the morning and lasted almost till noon, maybe because I was down in the valley at the lowest elevation and next to the river. We'd had a recent snow and most of it was melting off leaving patches here and there.  I was hoping the fog would hold out long enough for me to get a painting finished and I got my wish. I really loved painting in the fog - I wish we got a lot more days like that. But Colorado is a fairly dry place and foggy days don't happen too often.
Fog Along the River, 8 x 10.

Winter Fields

This was from a couple weeks ago - finally dry. Winter Fields. I had done one painting,  finished it up, turned around and saw this scene and decided to paint it also. I ended up not keeping the first one. Winter Fields, 8 x 10.

Old Pumphouse

There's an old run-down irrigation pumphouse on an abandoned farm near here. It's right next to one of the parks where I often go to paint. There's an old barn and some other falling-down buildings which I've painted before but this time I decided to paint the pumphouse. I liked the fading paint and the look of the weathered boards.  Old Pumphouse, 10 x 8.

Spring Grazing along the Yampa River

While travelling last May and coming back through northern Colorado we passed through Steamboat Springs. Along the way I took pictures. This painting is done from something I took along that stretch of Route 40. The pastures were starting to green up, although there were patches of snow higher up. It looked awfully pretty. I couldn't stop to paint - we had to get home by evening. I did this painting all in one sitting - kind of an alla prima sort of indoor plein air. I started working from the photo as though I were on location. I didn't really plan it out too much ahead of time. It was kind of an experiment.
Spring Grazing, 10 x 20.

House on the hilltop

Last Saturday was a really foggy morning and I thought it would be great to go and paint that. I did one 8x10 down by the river. It went well, and I decided I had time to do another. I had a smaller 6 x 8 with me and painted this small painting of a house on the hill. The sky was still fairly foggy and began to lift as I was finishing up. The first painting is still drying, the second one I am posting here.
Hilltop House, 6 x 8.

New Paintings

I have them - but gee - they are taking FOREVER to dry in this winter weather. I've got 3 sitting here just waiting for those last patches to be dry enough to scan.  Maybe tomorrow.

Contrails

I saw this scene while driving to Boulder one evening. I was on my way to something, had no camera with me or painting gear. I noted the time and came back the next day at sunset to take some pictures. The site is right next to a busy divided highway with no real safe place to park or setup, I'd be a little afraid to paint there, so I took a lot of pictures and worked on this at home. I particularly liked how the partially melting ponds and random snow patches added to the view.
Contrails, 9 x 12.

Painting at NCAR

NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) sits on top of a hill in Boulder. The PAAC plein air group of Boulder went there last Thursday to paint. There are great views all around looking south, east and north, and west if you want to paint the building or the mountains behind it. We all set up mostly on the south side of the hilltop. The weather was pretty great and the sweeping views to the south looked pretty fantastic. I chose to paint this partly still snow-covered ravine off in the distance. Below is a picture of NCAR that I borrowed from their website  https://ncar.ucar.edu/.  (Hope you don't mind the picture borrowing, NCAR).   Great place to visit, exhibits for visitors, etc.
The Ravine, 9 x 12.