Mountain Drive 1956 (Inspiration for Painting)

I am getting ready for a solo show in March, all mountain landscapes inspired by memories and daydreams of the Colorado mountains, so  I have been mining for gold in old photo albums.  One of the treasures there: a tiny bound booklet of "Sparkletone Album Prints," a set of black and white photos, maybe 2 x 2.5 inches, all from a 1956 trip to the mountains. I have painted from this album at least once before, and I am returning to it again.  This was one of several big  trips that I took as a kid (well, big to me.)  I was 8 years old at the time, and traveling with my cousin Vicki, my Aunt Edy, my Uncle Bob, and Grandma Katz.*  Our main destination was Estes Park. These little pictures aren't labeled, so sometimes some detective work is called for.  But here we are heading into the mountains.  No doubt Uncle Bob was driving, with Aunt Edy in the passenger seat, and so she probably took this picture.  I love the idea of a kind of "collaboration" with her. The distant mountains and the rising road ahead appealed to me, so I decided to use this as inspiration for a painting.  But first I needed to make this into a workable painting reference. To be continued. . .

*I grew up with extended family living, my parents and myself, my aunt and uncle and their daughter--same age-and my grandmother.  My parents stayed home to "mind the store" for this trip.

Sloan's Lake Sunset (Acrylic Watermedia Painting)

Here is my painting as it looked on January 19th, which is when I finished it.  I made changes to the water, simplifying the colors,, and made a lot of other small changes to the rest of the painting as I finished up.  This is acrylic paint used as watermedia, on cradled board 16 x 20 inches 

Sloan's Lake Sunset (Painting as of January 18, 2022)

As of January 18th, this is how my painting of Sloan's Lake looked.  This was the second day of working on it. My inspiration was a photo that I took during a trip to Denver. (See post for January 16th.)  I didn't do too much to change the composition, but I adjusted the colors, and was happier with them.

Sloan's Lake Sunset (Painting as of January 17, 2022)

This is my painting as it looked on January 17th, the first day I worked on this. My starting point was my photo reference (posted here yesterday, the 27th). At this point, I was pretty happy with the composition, but not yet satisfied with the colors.  This is acrylic paint used as watermedia. To be continued. . . .

 

Sloan's Lake Sunset (Painting Reference)

This image began as  a photo that I took during one of my trips to Denver; I recently cropped it to make it work as a painting reference. I am not sure of the date, but I think this was taken in September of 2011.  Almost all of my trips to Denver were to see family, including my aunt, my cousin, and her family, who lived one block from Sloan's Lake in Denver.  And soon after I arrived or before I was about to leave, I would walk over to Sloan's Lake to see the mountains. 

"Near Colorado Springs" in Members' Show, Galatea Fine Art

On January 16th, we headed to Boston for the closing day for Galatea's annual "Member's Show".  We finally had a chance to look at the show and I am glad we didn't miss it.  It was a great show, and as always, seeing the artwork produced by the artists of Galatea put a big smile on my face.  I also finally had a chance to see my painting on the wall, so I took a picture.

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Acrylic Mixed Media Painting)

On January 14th and 15th, I softened the sky with some pasted paper and made many small adjustments to the colors. This is the finished version.  

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Painting as of January 13th, 2022)

Here's my painting of that Pike's Peak sunrise as it looked on January 13th.  I continued working on that second row of mountains, trying to match colors and shapes to my painting reference.* This is acrylic paint and pasted tissue paper on cradled board 16 x 20. 

*The photo that inspired this painting is posted here January 17th, and the painting reference that I created from the photo is posted here January 18th.)

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Painting as of January 12, 2022)

 

Here's my painting (Sunrise on Pike's Peak) as it looked on January 12, 2022.  I applied more layers of blue and purple tissue paper to the foreground, and then painted into it to emphasize the shapes I wanted.  I also worked on some of the shapes in the second row of mountains.  Still a ways to go! This painting was inspired by an early morning view from my friends' spare bedroom on a visit to Colorado in 2005.  I took a photo even though it was hard to see the mountains behind the trees. The original photo is posted here January 17th and  the painting reference I created by digitally altering the photo is posted here here January 18.

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Painting as of January 11, 2022)

Here's my painting of the morning sun on Pike's Peak as it looked on January 11th.  Here you can see rough preliminary work done on the two shapes in the foreground. This is acrylic paint and pasted tissue paper on cradled board  16 x 20 inches.  

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Painting as of evening, January 10, 2022)

Here is my painting of the rising sun on Pike's Peak as it looked at the end of the day on January 10, 2022, after a second painting session.  I used acrylic paint and pasted tissue paper to begin work on the sky as well as the second row of mountains.  To be continued. . . .

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Painting as of January 10, 2022)

Here is my painting of the sunset on Pike's Peak as it looked on January 10th (first painting day).  I used a combination of acrylic paint and pasted tissue paper to establish some of the shapes in the furthest mountain range. To be continued. . . .

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Sketch for Painting)

Here is the sketch for my painting of the sunrise on Pike's Peak. (Painting reference is posted here January 18th).  I used conte crayon to draw the basic shapes right on the painting surface.

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Digital Painting Reference)

This is a digitally altered* version of the photo I posted here yesterday. I took the original photo in the fall of 2005 from the spare bedroom of my friends' house in Colorado Springs.  The sunrise on the mountains was beautiful, and so I took the photo even though some trees were in the way. I recently decided to make this into a painting reference so I could paint that sunrise.  So I opened the image in Painter and got to work drawing over the trees and branches with digital chalk, matching the nearest color.  This took quite a while.  The colors of the sky and the mountain tops are as accurate as I could manage.  I didn't want to include rooftops etc., so I invented the shapes in the foreground, using the gray of one of the rooftops and the burnt orange of the aspen leaves.  This digital image is both photo and invention. I printed out a copy to use as a reference for a painting that combines memory and daydream.  To be continued. . . .

*Major understatement

Sunrise on Pike's Peak (Inspiration for Painting)

This is a photo that I took during a quick trip to Colorado, during the fall of 2005, I believe.  I visited friends in Colorado Springs, and stayed over. This was the view from their spare bedroom in the morning.  Although those aspen trees were lovely, I really wanted to take a picture of the sunrise on those mountains in the distance.  This photo was the result, and the best I could do. Even though it isn't a good photo,  I am glad I took the picture anyway because I recently decided to use it as the inspiration for a painting.  I decided to try to paint that sunrise, but it would take some work on the computer to turn this into a painting reference.  To be continued. . . .

Reposting: Tree in All Seasons (video)

Today I am posting this little video that I made on my iPad in 2019, with the Procreate app.  This little animation shows a tree in all seasons, and I am posting it to mark Tu b'shvat (New Year of the Trees), a Jewish holiday that starts at sundown tonight. As a child,  I fell in love with the idea of a new year for the trees, and   I still like this reminder to celebrate the trees and value the natural world,

Front Range Thunderstorm (Mixed Media Painting)

Here is the painting that I finished on January 6, 2022.  It was inspired by a photo that I took during a 2006 visit to Colorado. I got stuck in traffic while driving through Colorado Springs, and  then a thunderstorm went through. Since traffic was at a standstill, I took a picture.* The last step in finishing this painting was to rework the mountain slopes, adding pink highlights with strips of paper.  This is acrylic paint and pasted paper, 16 x 20 inches on cradled Hardbord.

*Photo reference posted here January 2, 2022

Front Range Thunderstorm (Painting as of January 5, 2022)

This is my painting, "Front Range Thunderstorm" as it looked on January 5, 2022, when I used acrylics to paint into the shapes of clouds, sky, and mountains that I had formed with pasted tissue paper.  I use the paint to smooth out the shapes and adjust the colors.  I often mix the paint with acrylic medium, which adds another transparent acrylic layer that acts like a glue.  I am working from a photo that I took in 2006 during a thunderstorm in Colorado Springs.* But even though I am painting a rainstorm, I decided to include the sun peeking through the clouds, as it often does during those fast-moving late afternoon thunderstorms in Colorado.

*Painting reference posted here January 1, 2022.

 

Front Range Thunderstorm (Painting as of January 4, 2022)

Here is how this project looked on January 4th.  At this point, all the basic areas were covered with pasted tissue paper, and I was starting to "paint into it" a little bit. This is easiest to see in the foreground, where  I pasted lime green tissue paper and then painted into it with a quieter green. 

Front Range Thunderstorm (Painting as of January 3, 2022)

This painting is based on a photo* that I took in 2006 while I was stuck in traffic driving through Colorado Springs during a late afternoon thunderstorm.  In Colorado, it is very likely to rain around 4 PM. Sometimes the storm leaves so fast that the sun is shining while it rains. Today's post shows that at this point in the process, I was working on the sky, using purple tissue paper to suggest storm clouds and gray tissue paper to suggest rain.  To be continued. . . .

*Posted here January 10th.