You can’t imagine the color of this lake — the most gorgeous turquoise blue, like the Caribbean. Here is the drawing from my previous post, with a bit of color added. Not quite the vivid blue of real life, but a touch of it.
Lower Blue Lake watercolor study, pigment liner and watercolor, 6×9
Filed under Colorado, Watercolors
I’m back in Colorado and as is usual I’m feeling sleeeeeeepy from the altitude. I’ve done a few sketches but nothing ready for posting yet. Meanwhile, here are a few quick photos. These grand landscapes will be a challenge to sketch and paint.
View of Ouray from Ampitheater
Near Baby Bathtubs on outskirts of Ouray, Colorado
Filed under Colorado, This Is On My Mind
Walk up the Blue Lakes trail. Start out through thick, old forest, with a raging mountain stream, clear and cold, to your left and below. Watch your feet as you climb, rest, climb. Look up and see a peek of a mountain top, visible, then hidden behind the treetops as you walk.
Ahead, an open meadow; the mountains in the distance rise above the evergreens in the middle distance. The trail at your feet leads your way. Somewhere after those trees, and on the mountain, are the ice-cold, electric-blue, string of three Blue Lakes: your destination.
“Along Blue Lakes Trail,” watercolor, 8.5×11″
#45 of Fifty at Fifty.
Filed under Colorado, Fifty at Fifty Project, Watercolors
I’m still loving landscapes, learning with each new scene.
#44 of Fifty at Fifty
"Red Mountain" watercolor, 5x7"
Filed under Colorado, Fifty at Fifty Project, Watercolors
I promised a few larger paintings, and here’s the first. This scene is at Miller Mesa, just outside Ridgway, Colorado, the photograph taken by my dad. I’m pretty happy with the finished painting. I took my time and worked in sections: First I masked the fence, then worked foreground and sky, mountains, midrange, and finally foliage detail. I worked the fence in three or four sessions, letting the layers dry in between and letting it “rest” so I could see it better. This is Fifty at Fifty painting number 27.
The key learning experience in this painting was that I waited till the entire painting except the fence was finished before I removed the mask. The patience paid off because it left me a clean, clear surface to work on.
"Miller Mesa," watercolor, 8x10"
Filed under Colorado, Fifty at Fifty Project, Watercolors
