Rocky Mountain Foothill Series: Field Patterns

To Win a Watercolour Sketch painted in the Rocky Mountain Foothills: comment on my blog or Facebook posts during Sept 2015.  I will make the draw the first week in October. Good luck!

Plein air painting in the Rocky Mountain Foothills:

Another longgg... view. The patterns of the far fields were captivating as were the dusty silver coloured shrubs in the foreground. This 11 X 15" watercolour painting is, so far, untitled. I'm happy to hear ideas.

Set Up for Plein Air Painting:

I had a comfortable set up for painting on one of the days last week as the other painter and I were parked along a road and thus close to our vehicle. It was very windy so I huddled down beside the car for some protection. This folding chair has a little table attached which fits my palette and water dish. On the ground you can see a metal case that holds my supplies. Once I get everything out, it makes a nice table for extra things. If I don't take an easel, I rest the board with the watercolour paper taped on it, at an angle, on my knees. To the left of the photo are other essentials: rain coat, water and bear spray!

Dusty silver coloured leaves dotted the foreground so I chose to highlight one of them in my painting.

The fence post was smack right in the middle of my view. Why didn't I move? Well the wind protection the car provided that day was really necessary. After awhile though, I totally forgot about the fence post.

 Another Day's Set Up:

 

A different set up on another windy day. As we packed into this field searching for a view and protection from the wind, we found it was best to sit low to the ground. The one flattish spot, on the side hill where I was, had two dry cow patties on it. I decided it best to place my foam insulated square and my cushion on one and my hard side case on the other. The case on the ground then became a table for my palette. I am pretty sure that was a long john day.

The following paintings, shown in previous posts, are now titled and ready for sale. For further details, email me at eileengidman@kootenay.com

Watercolour painting: 'Nestled in the Rockies' - 11 X 15
by Eileen Gidman

Thank you to the viewer who gave me a title that I think perfectly suits this painting.
Watercolour painting: 'Tree Tessalations' - 7.5" X 11"
by Eileen Gidman

Week 1: Painting in the Rocky Mtns

Watercolour by Eileen Gidman painted on location in the Rocky Mtn foothills
Any title ideas?

 Day six today! The days, of the month retreat, are taking on a routine. Out painting by 9 for about 3 hours. Home for a warm lunch as the days have been very cold and some were rainy. Do you see the snow on the top of the mountain in my painting. That happened this week and there were even a few snow flakes in the valley! The afternoons include a rest period and finishing that morning's painting in the studio. The weather is supposed to be better this week, so the other artist and I plan on getting out a second time in the afternoons.  I might end up with a stack of paintings that need finishing!!!

 

 

This is a photo of the view I was working on today. The watercolour painting is so far from being finished I won't post it. I like the way the tops of the trees show so much movement. I would like to capture that but don't think I have thus far. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

To Win a Watercolour Sketch painted in the Rocky Mountain Foothills: comment on my blog or Facebook posts during Sept 2015.  I will make the draw the first week in October. Good luck!

Painting the Rocky Mountain Foothills

They are ready for framing. For those of you who paint, do you like to leave your paintings a bit before framing them? I painted these 3 watercolours last September on location and just tweaked them a little bit in the studio this spring. 'Fresh eyes' helps a lot for me. At a recent painting critique, after our West Kootenay Chapter meeting of the Federation of Canadian Artists, one of the artists mentioned viewing your paintings in a mirror to get another perspective for assessing your painting. A time or two I have done that technique but for me, waiting awhile to finish a painting before framing really helps. Perhaps I am not so emotionally attached to the painting then. How about you other creators of art, what do you do when assessing your art in it's final stages?

 

Now for the titles. Any ideas?

All the watercolour paintings are 7 1/2" X 11" and are $179.00 (unframed) plus shipping and handling. You can contact me at egidman@kootenay.com

Step by step completion of a plein air painting

Plein air painting in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains recently, I was able to spend a lovely afternoon along the side of a country road painting this amazing vista. There was only room for two of us artists as the road was a bit narrow down in a dip in the road but we got set up quickly to take advantage of the light. Unfortunately there was a curve in the road one way so the traffic didn't get much time to slow down once they saw us, which made for some dust rolling over us. Oh well. For a photo of the scene click here





Completed Watercolour Painting



About 90 % of the painting was completed on location, and this is the painting I came home to the studio with. Plein air paintings have a freshness to them which an artist must struggle to maintain when finishing them at home. I will give you a step by step account of the decisions I am making as I complete this painting under idea conditions in the studio.

 I darken around the aspen tree trunks in the middle ground to focus the viewers eye there. The front aspens seem a bit bare to me so I add some leaves. The blue sky colour appears too isolated so I brought some of that ultramarine blue colour into other parts of the painting including to the shade at the base of the middle ground aspens and into the shadows of the grass in the foreground.

The middle row of trees were given more form to their leaves by darkening the bottom with dark green and strengthening the middle green while taking care to leave a little highlight along the tree tops. As well dark green was added behind the highlighted white tree tops to make them stand out.

The foreground was given stronger colour by adding burnt orange especially around the left two trees.

I lightened the middle ground tree tops by lifting out the paint. The trunks of the three trees in the front are toned from bright white to focus the attention on the whitest white of the middle ground aspens.

I deepened the blue in the shadows of the middle ground aspens and added some blue in the shadows between the trees. Lime green is added on the right side in a line behind the warm golden and burnt orange swath.

More branches were added with a palette knife as details to the front trees with some of the branches pointing to that little grove of aspen in the middle ground.

An opaque lemon yellow was added to fill in between leaves to better group them which is what you see when you look at a leaves on a tree.
I thought a little more lime green was needed on the right side to balance the same colour on the left foreground. It seems important to stop before the looseness of the plein air painting is lost.



Another watercolour painting  that is 90 % or so completed on location. This is the middle ground group of aspen from the painting above. I really would have liked to get up closer to them but there were two barbwire fences in between and also private property. Where to go from here with this painting. I love the looseness and brightness of this little sketch that was completed in about fifteen minutes after the first one was painted in about an hour and a half.



Do You Ever Do Something Just For Yourself?

Have you ever done something just for yourself? Recently I went to the Rocky Mountains to plein air paint for 5 days. Wow, the whole experience was enriching, from:

• meeting a very generous couple who hosted us,
• meeting the farm couple who invited us to their ranch to paint,
• witnessing the changing autumn colours throughout the week,
• being in the company of dedicated plein air painter friends,
• to experiencing the vast views of the foothill area of the Rocky Mountains.

This will be a week to remember for life. If you can organize something like this for yourself, I would highly recommend it.

One of several watercolour paintings that were 90 percent completed on location

The view that was my inspiration

Thread & Fabric. A textile person couldn't resist that sign! Although I didn't have time to paint this on location, I still might paint it.

Blue and yellow, big sky prairie sunrise.

Yes, this is a REAL photo. Those wind-tortured tree trunks made intricate patterns. I did two paintings at this location which will need some details added in the studio before showing you.
Textile Art: Can't wait to paint this image on textile with dyes. Can you imagine it?

Check later for the rest of the paintings from the trip or you can follow my Eileen Gidman, Watercolour and Textile Artist, Facebook page by going here and clicking on 'follow'. If you prefer email notification of new posts, enter your email on the upper left near the top of this blog. Thanks for stopping by.