AUTUMN IN THE SOUTHWEST: Painting along the road, in the backyard and other locations in Colorado and Utah

 view of Ridgway Hill, from my backyard, October 2017

 south from Liza's horse barn, Ouray, October 2017

 Maynard Dixon House, Mt. Carmel, UT, October 2017

 Temple of Sinawava, Zion National Park, UT, October 2017

 along County Road 5 in Ridgway, CO

 pond on the Box Canyon Trail, Ghost Ranch, NM

 Mt. Wilson, Telluride, CO

view of Lone Cone from Horsefly Mesa, CO

Every year we say it's early, it's late, it's not going to be as good, it's been too dry,

that late frost in May killed it, it's been too wet! 

But each year if we wait and watch autumn takes our breath away, each and every time. 

Perhaps it's the contrast with the summer. 

In spring we experience the visual excitement of the trees as they, seemingly effortlessly, 

produce millions and millions of leaves that change our world from silence to abundance. 

We walk around in the green summer air feeling as if 

we are wrapped in a blanket filled with fresh leaves instead of downy feathers. 

Then in late August we notice a subtle shift in the light as the green fields start to turn golden. 

An easing out of summer until sometime in October we are stunned by the brilliant

color as once again the trees dye their leaves all the warm colors on my palette. 

Goodbye to all those greens.

It is wonderful to walk around in such exuberance, 

a gift from nature to us as we transition into the gray and white of winter.

Here is a group of recent paintings along with some of my favorites from years past. 

The fall is hanging on a bit longer, so I'm going out to paint.

PAINTING TREES AT THE BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK

    This fall I will be going to Zion National Park for the first time to paint.

   I was invited to join a group of artists to paint in the Milford Zornes Paint Out. This event

   is generously supported by The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts. They are the group

   responsible for restoring the Maynard Dixon Home & Studio in Mt. Carmel, Utah. I look

   forward to painting together in October.

   In November I will be painting in the Zion National Park Plein Air Art Invitational. I am 

   pleased that the proceeds from the event will benefit the Zion National Park Foundation

   and will support the educational programs that take place in the park.

   The focus of my work is the tree in the landscape. I went looking for Utah Juniper Trees.

   With the help of Park Ranger Paul Zaenger I found Everyone's Favorite Tree at 
   Dragon Point in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I keep returning 
   to this spot to paint because it has a great variety of very old Juniper trees 

Everyone's Favorite Tree

Utah Juniper

This tree in Colorado is native to the Intermountain West but the Utah juniper is often confused with the Rocky Mountain Juniper because they appear to be very similar. These two conifer trees differ in the following ways: 1) The needles on the Utah juniper are yellow-green and the Rocky Mountain has gray-green foliage; 2) On the Utah juniper the bark is gray and on Rocky Mountain the bark is reddish-brown: 3) Utah juniper usually has male and female flowers on the same tree, whereas on Rocky Mountain juniper the male and female flowers are found on different trees.

The Old Utah Juniper

Dragon Point

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

www.nps.gov.blca

www.thunderbirdfoundation.org
www.zionpark.org

PAINTING IN SPAIN

Wave at Cala San Vincens

Rocky Cove at the Cala

Gardener's Shed at La Serranía

Olive Tree and Madrone

Flysch Geologic Formation at Gorliz, Basque Country

Bay of Pollensa Through Aleppo Pines

Drawing of Pines at Gorliz

TREES, painting and drawing in Mallorca

We spent days drawing and painting the trees at La Serranía in Pollensa
and La Casa de Robert Graves in Deiá!
The gardens were filled with the oldest olive trees!
From the top down:
Charcoal drawing by Marcia
Watercolor by Meredith
Graphite drawing by Dietrich
Graphite on pigment stained handmade paper by Julia
Oil by Josephine
Charcoal drawing by Raoul
Watercolor wash drawing by Guy
Watercolor by Gaby

                                                                                             

ERMITA DE LA VICTORIA

La Ermita de la Victoria in Alcudia dates back to 1679.

The pastel above by Dietrich and charcoal pencil drawing below by Marisa 

both capture the simplicity of it's Romanesque architecture.

Guy painted the view of the hillside and mountains behind the Ermita.

The vegetation was particularly lush this year because of record winter rainfall 

warmer than normal temperatures in early spring.

Four of us chose the view across the Bay of Pollensa looking through the Aleppo Pines.

Starting at the top - graphite and colored pencil by Raoul, watercolor by Meredith, watercolor by Gaby

watercolor by Julia

THE COLORS OF MALLORCA

 Sample Palette for painting the Mediterrannean

 PAINTING AT THE CALA SAN VINCENS

 IN THE GARDENS OF LA SERRANIA

MY NEW PALETTE

Here are a few color palettes based on the paintings I did last year in Mallorca!

That Mediterranean sea eluded all the blues I usually have on palette except luckily I had a little bit of Cobalt Turquoise in my painting bag and that did it! 

I used plenty of Olive Green when painting the gardens everywhere. Please note that is Ivory Black

in the lower right hand corner. Very useful for all the texture on the trunks and branches.

These colors are just a suggestion and what I usually paint with:

(starting at upper left) Ivory Black, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Sepia, Indigo Blue,

Cerulean Blue (warm blue) Cobalt and French Ultramarine (cool blues), Viridian Green (cool green),

Olive Green (of course for all those olive trees, a warm green!), Cadmium Yellow (warm yellow), Lemon Yellow (cool yellow), Naples Yellow (because I love it), Cadmium Red (warm red), Quinacridone Magenta (cool red), Buff Titanium from Daniel Smith. 

Cobalt Turquoise in the corner of the mixing area.