Plein Air Watercolor of the Spring Mountains

"Blue Mountain Shadows" 11" x 8" watercolor

I have been painting in Red Rock Canyon for the past couple of weeks as the weather is in the mid -80s with little wind. This is a nice time of year here in Las Vegas for painting en plein air. This painting is on Arches hot press from a block and you can see from the photo of my set-up below that I use masking tape on the edges of the paper as the tape helps to control the buckling of the paper when it is soaking from wet-into-wet washes. My windshield sunshade comes in handy clipped to my pochade box to keep the sun off the paper and palette. The desert is blooming again - our second spring - so I wanted to capture the beautiful yellows in the arroyo contrasting with the atmospheric blues in the distant Spring Mountains.

There were lots of people enjoying the park this past Sunday when I painted this. Many rock climbers to watch on the Calico Hills behind me. Park volunteers set up at the trailheads to give information to all the hikers. It is so calm and peaceful up in the desert and is a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Throwing Wheel in Pen and Ink and Watercolor

My husband is taking a workshop with Tom Coleman this week called "Super-Hot Shinos" at Pottery West and I went up with him this morning at 7:30 to see the work he did yesterday. While he was busy in the glazing area I sat down next to his wheel and sketched. This is his throwing wheel for the week with his sketchbook, coffee container, and water bottle on top of the wheelhead. He has a piece of wood spanning his water bucket and on that are some of his throwing tools. It was such a nice morning in the studio, still cool because the weather has been ten degrees cooler than normal for six weeks now. A few people were starting to throw and then Tom came in with a cardboard box full of beautiful carbon-trap shino glazed pieces. Some were his and some were from his personal collection. They were gorgeous and the stories he told that belong to each piece were fascinating. This was sketched in a 5" x 8" Moleskine.

Painting In Zion Canyon

"Red Leaf Maple at Zion"

7" x 5"

Watercolor and Gouache

This little painting was done in an Arches 7" x 10" cold press watercolor sketchbook. The scene is on the trail to the Emerald Pools in Zion Canyon. Just over this rise one sees the first waterfall and the lower pool is below you about 60 feet. This trail has many beautiful painting opportunities but it can be a challenge to find a suitable sketching niche off this trail where I won't be in the way of other hikers. I managed to find a spot, sketch quickly and put further layers of color on later in the studio.

Watercolor from Zion National Park

"November Gold"

7" x 10"

Watercolor

My family and I visited Zion National Park several times this past fall. The weather was pleasant into mid-November and the trails were bordered with the oranges and golds so typical of autumn in this beautiful canyon. I recently finished this little painting of the cottonwood trees at the entrance to the Narrows Trail. Done on Arches hot press 140 lb. paper, it was a joy to paint.