For today’s leg of our journey, we are headed back to Colorado, where the sun worship originally began.

The Inspiration

Roxy and I walk a portion of this creek each morning and sometimes in the evening if we are feeling restless.

The grasses and the reflections in the water are indeed DRENCHED in so much glorious SUNSHINE!

Each day it’s different and gorgeous, even in the winter, with all these naked trees and dried-out foliage. The reflections in the water and the color of the sky have me reaching for my camera every time!

Field Notes

I don’t have any sketches from the field due to the fact that Princess Roxanna Miranda BigChonkingHead Rose has zero patience when it comes to me stopping during HER walkies! Taking 15,000 photos during each walk is all she gives me time for.

Many days, I think that when we get home, I’ll pack up a bag and go back out to sketch, which I have once.
Sadly, the light isn’t the same, and if you think I’m going to get out of the house in the morning without Le Princess, well, the ASPCA has something to say about that!

An afternoon in the field with my giant sketchbook and no dog. Roxy was so mad at me when I got back!!

In The Studio

Thumbnails and Value studies
Taking the field work into the studio for larger paintings

I want to paint several paintings that will be direct inspiration from the creek where we walk each morning, but for now, I’ve narrowed it down to two images I thought would make the best compositions.

For the first image, it wasn’t the sunniest of days; it was slightly overcast, but the reflections in the water were dynamic!

I enhanced the saturation in the photo to show that the sun was technically out.

This is the second image I chose to work with, as I’m such a sucker for a good reflection!

A practice piece from one of the images that I later determined did not make the top two choices.

Transferring the sketch onto watercolor paper.

For the record, I do try to work at a desk, often.
But this is why I generally end up on the floor.

Mid-way point of two paintings that I was loving at this point.

I wanted these two paintings to act as a set, and so I was painting them simultaneously, and that was working great, until it wasn’t.

The painting on the left was getting too dark, and the area far left on the paper kept getting muddier and muddier as I tried to lighten it.

Eventually, after I had overworked the left painting within an inch of its life, I gave up on it.

The paper at this point was BEGGING to be put out of its misery.
And yes, that is what paper looks like when you take a Magic Eraser to it, in a last-ditch effort to remove 47 layers of paint, pastel, and graphite.
10/10 would not recommend.

I then decided that the composition didn’t leave enough room for the blue sky that I felt was the whole point of this series.

I went back to my composition studies and found that a vertical format would give me the full scene, with more room for the blue sky to really come through, and it had the unintended bonus of allowing me to highlight the larger trees.

Final Art

I am really happy that I decided to rotate the paper in the left image to give the sky all the room it really needed.

My favorite part of this painting is the lighting on the tree trunks and the reflections with all the pops of bright sky blue just lounging all over the place!

My favorite part of this painting is that I allowed the dark shadow area to remain abstract without overworking it.

THE END

Thank you for taking this delightful ‘Cruise” with me!
I hope you learned a ton of new things about art and painting, and enjoyed seeing the full painting process in mostly real time!

The paintings showcased over the last three weeks, along with prints and a few other surprises, will be available TODAY at noon PST in the
“Cruise Gift Shop,”
i.e., my Etsy shop.

PLEASE NOTE:
As this imaginary Cruise was our first voyage together and a bit of a wild, silly ass experiment, I have kept quantities limited so as not to lose my arms or legs financially to sea pirates.
Which is a kind way of saying, if you want a painting or print, move your ass!

p.s. Remember those two words I asked you to remember? You can smash them together and use them at checkout for 15% off your total order!
HINT: 9 letters, all caps, salty and sticky

Would you like 25% off your total order??!
WHAT??! I know, wild right?!
Fill out this survey, and once completed, you will get a coupon code for exactly that!!!

SUN DRENCHED Part 111