March 29, 2017

Frog Pond, Matthew Henson Trail

I'd never been to the Matthew Henson trail before, I found it only by looking at the  Montgomery County Parks website.  What a spectacularly beautiful and trail.

The frog pond was near where I parked and although I walked a short length of this very long trail, this spot kept calling to me.

Early in spring, there's no leaves on the trees (such a contrast to Montana, where I was last week and evergreens far outnumber any deciduous trees) so I was looking at trunks, reflections, dark shadows and deeply colorful water.  I brought this into the studio this afternoon to adjust some of the color.

March 28, 2017

A River Runs Through It - updated

The movie A River Runs Through It was filmed along the Gallatin River.  A few weeks ago, I went fly fishing there and took photos to use as a reference for a future painting.   The fish were cold and sluggish -- I was even slower to set the hook and can only tell tales about the ones that got away.   
finished painting
early sketch

March 22, 2017

Unfinished view

I hadn't appreciated how much I'd miss a real studio easel ... until I was working on this large 4 ft x 3 ft canvas which was attached to a dining chair with a bungee cord.

Aside from the challenge of painting a view that truly changed every 5 minutes -- you could see the mountains in the distance, then they were covered in clouds, then the sun would break through, then it would rain/snow/sleet, then the snow melted etc.  -- it was hard to paint the whole canvas when to reach the bottom edge I had to crouch next to the canvas or bend over.  A studio easel lets you raise the canvas so you can paint the bottom at eye level and lower the canvas to focus on the top.  What a difference it makes!  I'm going to ship this back to my Maryland studio and finish it there.

March 17, 2017

View from the Deck

I started this a week ago, today I finally got back to work on it.  It's been brilliantly sunny, so the color is much more intense than in the initial sketch.  The snow on the railing is gone now, but I did leave that in the painting.

March 10, 2017

Painting, Snowing, in Montana


I bungie-corded a very big canvas to an old broken chair so I could paint on the deck in Montana today.  I didn't count it starting to snow while I was painting -- this is going to be fun!

March 7, 2017

Painting in Montana

Working inside this morning while looking out at the Gallatin River Canyon.