Along the Animas River, and another cloud study - plein air, pastel

Both from yesterday.

Riverside Stata and Cottonwood - 12x12", plein air
pastel on black cardstock

In the morning, local 4CPAP friend Lori and I painted together along the river, right along the A.R.T.  I've been wanting to paint this particular view since last fall when I took the photo below during a walk.  So, I probably will come back in the fall and revisit it.

Hard to believe it's the same location.  Both Lori and I took the same artistic license and left out that distal mountain.

Later in the afternoon, as a large monsoon storm was building to the northwest over the mountains, I set up the easel in our front sidewalk area for a fast cloud study, with the eastern slope of Smelter Mtn:

Sky South of Smelter - 12x12", plein air
pastel on yellow cardstock

Two plein air landscapes - waterfall and clouds, and a studio sunset - pastel

Lime Creek Falls - 16x8", plein air
pastel on black cardstock

Today's painting, from our hike up Lime Creek.  I had this piece and a 6" square piece of paper taped to my board, and decided to try a vertical format for this set of falls, rather than my usual square.

Cumulonimbus to the North - 12x12", plein air
pastel on black cardstock

Yesterday's painting, from Pastorius.  The gray Unisons I used to do most of the cloud weren't really that keen on adhering to the surface, but what can you do?  It's an occasional consequence of working on smooth paper.

Monsoon Sunset - 12x12", studio
pastel on brown cardstock

I haven't done a studio painting in months.  But, on the late afternoon of the full moon, the monsoon clouds were spectacular, so I drove south of town to get reference photos.  This one I just couldn't resist painting, so I started it yesterday after I got home from painting at Pastorius.  

Sunsets are one of those subjects I don't have a problem painting from photos; to be honest, the light changes so rapidly from "wow" to "meh" that I'm not sure how effective it would be.  I do know other painters can do it successfully.

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Full moon, taken further up this road after it turns to the left (east) and goes up a hill:

View to the north along the same road:

More clouds, and juried show news

Painting from yesterday afternoon from the deck off the master bedroom.

Cloud Line - 8x16",  plein air
pastel on 4-ply matboard with Golden pumice + black acrylic
© S.Johnson

I always find it fascinating when clouds form those diagonal bands across the sky, and this one kept that basic shape until I was nearly finished.  It's funny...as much as I've painted clouds, both from photos and from life, I always learn something valuable each time I paint them.   And, I still find them a challenge to paint.

On an unrelated note, I am a bit late in sharing this news on my blog, but I found out that I had four of six paintings I submitted accepted to the member's juried show for the Four Corners Plein Air Painters, held at the Gateway Museum in Farmington, NM.

This was a pretty tightly juried show, with over 180 submissions and only 62 pieces chosen.  The juror was Tom Lockhart, an accomplished landscape and plein air painter.

The reception was last Saturday night, and I was delighted and honored when my painting "Afternoon Along the Wash", was awarded second place:

Afternoon Along the Wash

The others accepted were:

Colorado Trail Shadows

Rio Grande Reflections

Gathering Storm Over Duffrey Mesa

I was glad I arrived in time to hear Tom's talk about his selection and jurying process, and the particular elements that appealed to him for those he selected for awards.  He spoke of the importance of good drawing skills, and that the paintings have a strong underlying design and pleasing balance of light and dark values.

I was also pleased to spend some time talking with him individually afterwards, and found him to be very personable and generous with sharing information and advice.   He told me he placed some emphasis on the entrants' overall body of work submitted, saying he has seen many instances [not specifically this show] where a painter would have one good painting out of several marginal pieces.

It was clear that he put a lot of thought into his selections, and based on the quality of the work in the show, his job wasn't an easy one.

Overall, this show and Mr. Lockhart's words helped validate my approach and dedication to my painting efforts, and reinforced much of what I spoke about in this post exactly three months ago.

Now, get out and paint!

Quartet of plein air paintings - pastel

Today, I was on a roll, and pushed my plein air total for 2012 past 70.

First, the large one, from a park south of town:

"Passing To the North" - 12x12", plein air
pastel on black cardstock

Then, smaller, 10-minute cloud studies:  one at the same location as the above painting:

Cloud Study with Slopes - 6x6"

And, two more at home, from inside my studio looking west:

Cloud Study - from deck - 6x6"

And east, with an attempt at the moon:

Waxing Gibbous Moon with Cloud - 8.5x11"

Monsoon sky - pastel, plein air

Colors of Earth and Sky - 12x12", plein air
pastel on sanded black cardstock
 © S.Johnson

This was just plain fun to paint.  Near the river and looking south with a peek of the Purple Cliffs.

Hermosa Creek - plein air, pastel

Hermosa Creek - 12x12", plein air
pastel on brown cardstock
© S.Johnson

Today was one of those days I was in a bit of a quandary as to what to paint, and didn't think I'd end up going out at all - nothing local sounded really appealing to paint.

But, today was an absolutely beautiful day, weather-wise, so at least a hike was in order.  Wayne suggested Hermosa Park, which is a river valley that is due west of the ski area, Purgatory, also known as Durango Mtn. Resort.  

I remembered this very location from earlier visits, and even a photo taken in '09 before we lived here, of the red creek bank, so it was an easy choice to paint.

Beautiful cumulus clouds filled the sky, but I chose to leave them out for this painting to simplify things.

Painting and hiking around Lizard Head Wilderness

Back from our trip.  I spent part of the afternoon doing finishing touches on two of the paintings, by which time a monsoon storm had moved in, forcing me to wait until today to photograph them.

From this trip, I learned how to work around heavy monsoon activity:  1) paint near the car; 2) wait for any window of opportunity, no matter how small, to head out with the easel; 3) be prepared to return at a different time when the weather is amenable, to finish; 4) small paintings at camp.

First up, is my favorite from the trip.  Started Sunday afternoon during a short break in the weather, and finished up yesterday morning before we headed home, it was a "two-for-one", so to speak:

San Miguel Colors - 8x16", plein air
pastel on board with Golden pumice ground + black acrylic
© S.Johnson

This is painted from the area I mentioned in my last post:  "the meadows".  The meadows themselves were striking, with a variety of summer grasses and small meandering stream passing through.  Hills with scattered groups of spruce/fir, and aspen lead up to the base of the southern edge of the San Miguel range.

I'm always struck by the colors of the mountains within the southern San Juans (of which the San Miguels are part of).  A geology query of the San Miguel range tells me that the colorful purples, greens reds and yellows are due to the sandstones, breccias, tuffs and claystones of the San Juan Formation and Telluride Conglomerate.  Volcanic intrusions into these sedimentary layers, referred to as "stock", are what form the mountains themselves.

So, having the colorful southern edge of the mountains combined with the meadows was like being handed a gift as a painter.  But, I had to work fast:  less than 40 minutes after I set up my easel and began painting, rain started suddenly, and I was thankful I was set up 2 feet from the car...and not painting on LaCarte paper.

view from the driver's seat...two minutes earlier, I had been painting

Earlier in the day, I'd painted just down the road from this rainy view - a cabin complex situated at the end of the meadows.  I got most of it finished on location before the rain started, and pulled it out later at the campsite to work on it more between rains.

 Morgan Cabin and Dolores Peak - 12x12", plein air
pastel on black cardstock

I didn't take any photos of this cabin, but at some point (as we will be returning to this area - a new favorite for everyone), I plan to revisit this building complex from a different compositional approach.

Finally, two small pieces done from the seated comfort of our campsite yesterday morning - fun and fast, while I chatted with Sarah, and before I headed out to finish the San Miguel Colors painting:

Mountain Morning - 6x6", plein air
pastel on black cardstock

Morning Sky - 6x6", plein air
pastel on brown cardstock

Saturday was spent hiking (and dodging lightning storms).  The Kilpacker trailhead was a mile up the road from our camp, so the four of us headed out on our chosen methods of transportation:  foot and horseback.

Morning along the trail

falls along Kilpacker Creek

Sarah and Jypsi in the meadow near the Navajo Lakes trail junction

Ominous skies and tree appropriate to the mood along the steep switchback section of the trail (Sarah and Todd opted to turn back before this section, thinking it might be too narrow and of loose scree)

Navajo Lake, from the basin, almost 6.5 miles from the trailhead.  Mt. Wilson,
one of CO's fourteeners, is visible from the saddle 

We were lucky that the thunder and hailstorm we got caught in on the way back didn't last more than about 25 minutes before fading off to the west.  Lightning flashing overhead, followed by immediate loud cracks of thunder, were a reminder that hiking in the high country during monsoon season is not to be taken lightly.

Approaching the trailhead (cars in stand of trees to right), with another storm over the Yellow Mountains.  Thankfully, we were back to the RV by the time this 3-hour rainstorm hit us.

More photos from the campsite:

Saturday sunrise 

Dramatic afternoon light over the Yellow Mountains (the same in the small paintings above)