Rocks along a stream

Decided to take a break from dawn paintings and went to Heil Ranch, a local county open space property, and tried painting the rocks in the stream. The light changed dramatically while I worked, rocks going from shadow to light and the reflections changed completely in color.  Here's the resulting picture.  Streamside, 9 x 12.

Another morning painting

I went back again on Thursday. The smoke has switched direction for a couple days so the sky was back to normal this morning with pastel colors in the sky and a golden sun as it rose, no longer an ominous red ball. Here's the latest painting. Purple Dawn, 9 x 12

Another Red Morning

Sunrise is a full 30 minutes later than it used to be earlier this summer when I first started doing this early morning painting routine. So - I get to sleep a bit later.  Getting up at 5:45 is way better than 5:15.

The smoke from the west coast continued to fill our skies throughout the weekend.
On Monday I went out to paint again and the sky was really dark - the smoke makes it darker than it ought to look in it's pre-dawn state. When the sun did come up, like the last time, it was a fiery red ball emerging from the horizon. This time since I had a view of the lake it was quite spectacular with the sun reflections and all.  Mondays aren't the best time to go there I found out - all the sprinklers are in full force so I got a little wet navigating around the sprinklers trying to find a place to setup that had a view I liked.  Red Sunrise, 9 x 12.

A Smoky Dawn

Friday smoke moved in from the distant California fires and the sky has been murky ever since. I went out to paint on Friday morning not knowing what to expect from the dawn. The sky stayed rather dark, not getting light and pastel colored like it usually does before the sun appears. Suddenly the blood red sun rose in a purple sky. There were no clouds and the light cast an orange glow. It looked rather unworldly. Here's my take on the subject - Red Dawn, 9 x 12.

Sandstone Cliffs

After breakfast I went to Sandstone Ranch, my favorite and close place to paint. This place has a lot of varied terrain, everything from farm buildings and fields,  to rocky cliffs, to ponds, to the river and a small bit of woods. The light was good on the cliffs so I worked on that and set up near a pond. The sun hadn't come around to light up the cliffs yet so they were partially in shadow.
Sandstone cliffs, 12 x 9. 

Morning Glow

Here's a painting from last Friday morning. There were very few clouds on this particular dawn so I knew the sun was going to be excessively brilliant when it rose into view. I decided to position myself behind some trees that would give me some cover from looking toward the sun as I painted the sky. It worked out well and I particularly liked how the light looked as it began peeking around the trees and spreading across the grass. Morning Glow, 9 x 12.  Painting seems to go in spurts with me - I'll do a few I don't really like and then go through painting a few I do like so I never know what I am going to get. Since this one worked out well I decided to go out again after breakfast and do another. I'll post that one tomorrow.

Sunrise

Back to Hamm's Pond again on Friday - there is such a great view of the horizon, and so close to home. This time I got there pretty early - it's easier since the sun is coming up later in the morning. It was still fairly dark when I was setting up so I got a good start before the sun actually jumped above the horizon. That's the trick in these dawn pictures - get it all laid out, get some colors mixed and when the sky hits that point that you want it at, hurry up and get it in there before it changes or gets too bright. Then fill in the ground and foreground last. An occasional early morning dog walker comes by now and then but it's mostly quiet and uninterrupted.
Sunrise, 9 x 12.

Farm Buildings at Dawn

Going out at dawn to paint is so nice I am continuing to do it a couple times a week. It does involve a little sleep deprivation  which I have to make up somehow with naps or sometimes even going back to bed after painting. I usually get done around 6:45 or 7 so it's easy to get back to sleep again.

I went back to Hamm's Pond which has a pretty good view of the eastern horizon with a patch of Union Reservoir and painted an old farm building that sits along the road. Sometimes when there is no cloud cover in the direct spot where the sun is coming up it's way too brilliant to paint or look that way so that was the case this day - instead I focused on the view to the southeast.
Dawn Highlight, 9 x 12.

Paintout

The PAAC ( plein air artist of colorado) paint-out was last Thursday at a local place called Coot lake which has lots of water/pond scenery,  and also some views of the Flatirons looking toward Boulder. It was followed by a painting demonstration by Marc Hanson and critique of the paint-out paintings. I couldn't get there early in the morning when it started and missed most of the critiques but did get to do a quick painting and watch the demonstration, which was very informative. Here's my painting from the day.  That building is a dam control building.  The dam is just off to the right and below the horizon. Flatirons, 12 x 9, sold.

Also here's the painting I did a week earlier at Rabbit Mountain. House with a View, 9 x 12.

Saturday painting

I didn't have time to go too far - too many things to get done on Saturday so I did this at a nearby park. Afternoon Shade, 9 x 12.

Dawn at the Lake

Here's a painting from last Friday - another early  morning trip out to paint. The sun is rising slightly later now so I can get out there a little sooner before the sun comes up completely. I had odd piece of board I covered with canvas and decided to use this long narrow panel for a change.
Dawn at the Lake, 6 x 12.

Sugar Mill

After doing a bunch of dawn paintings, I happened to pass the old sugar mill the other night around sunset and thought it might be fun to paint an evening picture. So Friday I went back at 7:30 and started painting, finishing around 8:15 when I started losing the sunlight behind a low cloud bank. It's kind of odd - I found myself painting things in a reverse order from the morning paintings. In the morning one has to get the sky pretty quick before anything else because it changes so fast, then go on to the foreground.  In the evening I found I left the sky till last - waiting to see what it was going to look like as the sky turned more like a sunset, and putting in the mill and landscape first. Here's the result. I decided to trim this picture down to a different format - now square.  Sugar Mill, 8 x 8, sold.

Dawn at Union Reservoir

I went back out again last Thursday early and painted. I liked how it looked the other day as I passed it on one of my other morning excursions so I decided to go back there specifically. There was a heavy band of dark clouds and I was not sure it was going to clear up enough but the clouds started to dissipate and a band of sunlight broke through silhouetting the trees against the strip of water.

 Artists involved in the local Studio Tour are supposed to donate a small painting to a fundraising event to help pay for the tour publicity. Everyone was given a small 8 x 10 canvas. This is what I did on mine.  It's been donated and the auction is on August 22.   Dawn Light, 8 x 10, sold.

Evening Storm

I saw this scene while hiking at a nearby open space park called Hall Ranch. We had started hiking around 2:30 in the afternoon and took a trail we hadn't taken before. It ended up being a very long hike and we didn't get back to the parking area till almost 8 PM. The sun was setting and a storm was moving in with lightening and thunder at the same time making for some dramatic scenery. I took a few pictures and worked on this in the studio.  Evening Storm, 10 x 20.

High Country

This is a studio painting I recently finished based on photos I took this spring on a trip west. We were heading south toward Mono Lake along the California border after having just camped over the border in Nevada. It was a beautiful clear morning. The mountains I believe are actually on the back side of Yosemite Park. The passes to the park were still closed for the winter. By using Google Earth I tried to figure out what mountain this actually is. It might be Dunderberg Peak.  But I am still not sure. I wish I had time to paint there but we were running late and had many miles to drive. High Country Spring, 11 x 14.

Cloudy Dawn

Last Friday it looked pretty cloudy and I wasn't sure it was a good idea to go out and paint but I went anyway and it turned out fine. It is soooo hard to get up at 5 and go off to paint. But once I got there I was glad I had dragged myself out of bed. This was looking east at Sandstone Ranch on the hilltop.
The clouds burned off as the sun came up and it turned out being a great morning to paint. Lots of bunnies were out and about but not too much else was around. Cloudy Dawn, 8 x 10.

Aspen

Everyone paints pictures of aspen, especially in the fall when they turn yellow and orange. I haven't done any paintings of aspen, fall or any other time of year.  We were camping near the Buffalo Peaks wilderness area over the 4th of July in an area surrounded by aspen so I thought it was time to try painting them. The flowers there were spectacular and the scenery was amazing. I wish I could have stayed there all day painting everything.  Here are the aspens I did get to paint, down the dirt road from our tent.  Aspen at Buffalo Peaks, 10 x 8.

Sunrise at Sandstone Ranch

Painting super early in the morning is pretty nice so I did it again on Saturday. I got there around 5:45 - a little later than I would have liked but it worked out okay. I had to block in the shadows really fast before the sun rose any higher. The sun was just starting to come over the low hillsides making for some nice lights and darks. I set up painting next to the dirt road looking south. Morning Hillside, 9 x 12.

Sunrise near Union Reservoir

My early morning experience from the last time was so pleasant I decided to go out again facing the opposite way and see what I could paint. I went to the hillside near another lake and painted the view as the sun was coming up near an old farmstead. I got there right before the sun actually came up and managed to get my basic colors blocked in beforehand and actually got to paint the sun as it emerged over the horizon. Then I had to work really fast before the clouds all changed color which they did rather rapidly. I finished up quickly and went home and back to bed for a little bit. Getting up at 5 is really hard. Sunrise. 8 x 10.

Sunrise at Macintosh Lake

Another early morning painting. The lake was in the foreground but I didn't use it. 

Pastel Dawn, 8 x 10, sold. 

2:30 Stop

The last stop of the day was the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center.  I finished my last painting in Manitou ahead of schedule so we had time to drive through the Garden of the Gods and look at all the red rock formations before wending our way to the Visitor Center. It was still early, and none of the other painters had arrived yet so we had time to tour the Visitor Center before I had to decide where to set up to paint. The place was packed with visitors and tourists.

 It was still baking hot outside and I didn't want to stand in the sun if I could avoid it. Winds were starting to pick up a bit too. After wandering across the parking lot I found a grassy hillside with scattered trees off the north edge of the parking area with a great large shady tree and a good view of Pikes Peak and the red rock formations in the foreground.  Another artist joined me there and we finished our last paintings of the day. Some of the artists chose to paint on the visitor center balcony in the hot sun, in the middle of the tourist crush, but that wasn't for me. I needed my shade.

At 5:00 we all gathered at the home of one of the painters and looked at everything everyone had painted, 45 paintings at least. They all turned out great.  Everyone was tired but it was a fun day and I had a great time.  View from Garden of the Gods, 8 x 10.

12 Noon Stop

The next stop was the town of Manitou Springs, a cute little town on the edge of Colorado Springs full of quaint buildings, tourist shops and restaurants. It's right up against the mountains kind of tucked into a narrow little dead-end valley. Traffic was pretty congested so we pulled off at a park near the edge of town.

After wandering around the park and up a steep side street I found this pink house with it's interesting colors and arches. I debated about painting this one or the neighboring red house with yellow trim but this one won out. It was blazing hot by then but I found some trees to setup my gear in the shade and I got to work. Pink House in Manitou, 10 x 8.

10:00 Stop

The next stop was on the grounds of a philanthropic society surrounded by flower gardens and ponds, alongside a stream running down from the mountains. I was finally caught up to the schedule and arrived on time.

The day was starting to heat up and this was the perfect place to be, heavily wooded,  cool, shady, with lots to choose from for painting ideas. The staff at the place told us that a bear with cubs had visited the garden earlier in the week. Luckily they were not there on this morning. We did see some deer. I thought about painting the iris but instead decided to paint the water lilies in one of the ponds. It was a great place to paint. After I was finished we had lunch in the shade before setting off to the next location.  Lilypads, 8 x 10.

7:30 Stop

Next place was the Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site. I got there a bit late, determined to make up time and I chose a scene looking into the sun at a low ridge to the east. Everyone else was already there working away on their paintings. The park has old farm buildings, a creek and some interesting rock formations, but I didn't have time to wander around or spend much time picking a view - I had to get moving and catch up.  Backlit Hillside, 8 x 10.

Painting Marathon

Last Saturday was an all-day painting marathon sponsored by the PAAC  (Plein Air Artists of Colorado) in Colorado Springs. They do one every year in different locations. Participants were to paint 5 paintings over the course of the day starting at 5:00 AM as the sun came up on Pikes Peak and ending at 5 in Garden of the Gods.

I decided to go and do this - I have never participated in one before. Nine artists had signed up to participate, some from Colorado Springs, some from other parts of the state. It was pretty hard to get to Colorado Springs by 5 AM since it's a 2 hour drive from home, but we managed to get there by 6. We had debated about driving down the night before but didn't have a chance to do so.

Everyone else was finishing up when we got there and the wind was fairly strong and gusty. I hunkered down behind the car, using it as a windbreak and sun break and set to work fairly quickly, hoping to catch up to the schedule at the next painting stop.  Here's my painting from the first stop - a view of the edge of Pikes Peak and the mountains lit by the early morning sun with a bit of Colorado Springs at the bottom.  Morning in Colorado Springs, 8 x 10.

High Water

I went down to the river to paint again last week. The water is still very high from the spring snowmelt in the mountains, and from the frequent rain we have been having, making the river basin higher than normal. I went to a place called the Peschell Open Space where the river meanders through various side streams and pond-like areas before once again meandering downstream in one channel. High Water, 8 x 10.

Meadow

I got a chance to go out last Tuesday for a bit and painted this in a grassy field near the river. These two trees caught my eye.  Hoped to get out later during the week but rain and work kept me away.  Meadow, 9 x 12.

Gold Iris

This year for the first time the gold iris in our front flower bed has decided to bloom. Last Sunday I decided to get up early and paint it as the early sunlight was starting to break through the trees and bushes in front of the iris. I  wanted to paint it when the sun was hitting the flowers and most of the background was still dark. This is the resulting painting. I was fairly pleased with it and had to work really fast before the sun got too high. The painting panels have been working a lot better since I coated them with a layer of toned Liquin over the gesso. I normally don't use Liquin when I paint. The panels are a little bit smoother and less absorbent. Gold Iris, 8 x 10.

Backbone Ridge

I went last week with a group of plein air painters to a place called Devil's Backbone Park. It's a long exposed sandstone ridge on the edge of the mountains that has a meandering hiking trail for 10 miles or so all along the east side.  Not wanting a straight on view, but looking for something a bit more dramatic, I hiked up next to one of the rock outcrops, being careful to watch for rattlesnakes along the way, and got a good view along the edge of the rock outcrop. The weather was patchy with clouds that kept coming and getting larger and eventually ended in rain, but by then I was starting to pack up my gear. Backbone Ridge, 9 x 12

Rabbit Mountain

I went back to Rabbit Mountain and did this painting of a view up the trail, looking into the morning sun. The  hillsides are still very much in their spring greens and haven't dried out and browned as they do eventually every summer as it gets hotter.  Rangers were nearby digging holes to install a new park sign and I was glad I was painting under a shaded overhang and not digging in the hot sun.
Horse riders and hikers passed me by as I painted. Skies were patchy with clouds and eventually clouded over to rain a bit.  Follow the trail, 8 x 10.