Summer Hillside
9x12 inches, pastel on black Strathmore
©2011 Sonya Johnson
...with a different view. The river, despite its flow continuing to drop, is producing some remarkable rapids that were tempting to paint. But, after doing many mountains and lots of water, I decided I liked this view from the bank, looking up the small hillside to the south.
It is filled with summer grasses of assorted colors of greens and yellows, along with small patches of an unknown yellow wildflower are scattered across the red earth. The trail leading down to the river, and my location, is seen in the lower right corner, partially obscured by a patch of yellow clover.
Trees were first, clouds were last. The top blue is a new one of my Mt. Visions that is just dandy for skies.
It was a bit breezy, due to the clouds. Some kayakers came and put in right in the same location, owing to the good wave action. So, we all practiced our craft on a wonderful Durango afternoon, our souls nourished by the Animas river - the River of Lost Souls.
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The sky off our bedroom deck, taken right before I posted this:
Tomorrow, the local Friday plein air painters are meeting at an old hotel downtown. If I can manage to drag my unit out of bed, I'll hopefully be joining them at 8 a.m. We might all have something to chuckle over as I maybe attempt to paint linear structures on location.
This painting has nice movement and color. Beautiful job.
ReplyDeleteTerrific! This is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I loved your stacked double pano images in the last post.
The Summer Hillside is working very nicely indeed. I'm even getting a sense of looking up into that sky past the trees. I have no doubt that the sky is an intense blue as shown because of the sight angle. Perfect fit. This one had a solid, graphical feel to it that I'm enjoying. Fantastic job. Best!
ReplyDeleteLOVE this piece! Great feeling of looking up the bank, with the movement among the grasses. Very nice!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by for your comments, Sheri - I appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteCasey - thanks much! I was pleasantly surprised by this painting's outcome, and I'm glad you like it...and the panos. They're fun.
Hiya Bill - thank you for the kind words. I have always had a thing for graphical type paintings (and esp. those WPA-era NPS posters), so I'm especially delighted by your comment about its graphical feel. And I'm tickled to see photos showing up on your blog...the walkabouts with the camera are addicting, aren't they?
Hi Debbie - I appreciate your comments! It was fun to try a slightly different perspective for this piece, and the grasses were a challenge re the detail vs. massing balance.