Painting with the Plein Air Artists of Colorado

I was invited to paint with this group when they came up to Summit County this September, and I took them up on it. Now that I feel more comfortable painting outside, I will be joining them more often I hope!

The studio piece from the last plein air

I will admit, I didn't use the plein air piece much as a reference, but it did help with colors. I wanted to get more of the water in this one. This is 11x14. The scene was in Westcliffe, Colorado, just as colors were beginning to turn.

Another in my plein air series

I had a couple of afternoons to paint while in Westcliffe this summer, and this is another that I did while I was there. The leaves were changing in front of our eyes, and it was amazing how much more color there would be in the afternoon than there had been that morning! I did a little larger studio piece from this study plus the reference I took while there. I will post it in a couple of days.

I have been away too long....time to start posting again!

Somehow time flew this summer and I managed to ignore my blog. We did a plein air event as a benefit for the local Land Trust. My sister Adele was in town as Artist in Residence in Breckenridge for a month, and I spent more time painting than I thought I might be able to. I went to Westcliffe CO in September for another Plein air event that Adele and our friend Joe Garcia were involved in. In the process I managed to get better at painting outside and even did a few plein air pieces I don't mind showing other people. I have taken two workshops with Jill Carver, trying to improve my outdoor painting skills and perhaps something stuck. But then again, next time I go outside to paint, I might have to wipe every attempt off!

Joe, his wife Anne, Adele, and my husband and I also managed to set up a business doing painting workshops in New Zealand. The first one that Joe and Adele will be teaching is full, and we have scheduled Michael Chesley Johnson and Barrett Edwards to teach two in February and March in 2013. See http://www.paintnewzealand.blogspot.com/ if you would like more information. I also was juried in to Women Artists of the West and will be joining Plein Air Artists of Colorado in January. My goal is to paint even more next year and will start by joining PAAC in Taos in May for a paintout.

So do I have an excuse for not posting? Not really, but I will do better this fall and into the winter.

Breckenridge poppies

Because of the huge amount of snow we had this winter, followed by more than adequate summer showers, the flowers have been phenomenal! Both garden flowers and wildflowers have been the best I have ever seen.

Breckenridge is covered in poppies, which inspired both my sister and I to paint them. This is just a little 8x10 but I have an 18x24 in me, just waiting to get out. I am going to start on it tomorrow.

Painting workshop in Southern Colorado with Jill Carver

It sure is green here! The aspen are just leafing out and what was gold and yellow when I was here last fall is now just as green as can be! It is challenging to get the greens right, with the right amount of warmth or coolness so that each area can be seen as different from the one next to it that may be the same value!

We have been working hard on values. Yesterday we did three value studies, going from a simple black and white painting showing just the light and shadow patterns, then adding one grey to the next one, then two on the next, for a total of four values.

Today we did another value study using five values, and then painted the same scene in color. Jill photographed the color paintings in black and white and we will compare our color paintings to the value study via the black and white photo. The goal is to learn to see value comparisons within and between the different hues. That is a challenge for me, as I know I have a tendency to use color when I should be using value. Hopefully my painting I did today achieved that, although I think I could have used temperature better to give more of a feeling of distance. But we will see when we critque on Thursday.

Tomorrow we head to a local ranch to paint, with lunch catered by a person who I am told is a fabulous cook! A treat after my cheese quesdillas I have had for lunch every day so far this week.

Summer time in Colorado

There is no better time than Summer in the Colorado high country. (except maybe winter if you are a skier!) The real estate office where I have my real job is just across the street from this scene in Frisco. I love the activity in the summer, as people walk, ride bikes and sight see. We also have fabulous flowers. Our season is so short (at most, three months) that everything blooms at once. The light at this altitude is clear and bright too.

This painting is a 12 x24 and I painted it for a show that I have coming up at the Buffalo Mountain Gallery in July.