Sumacs on the Saddle
Pastel | Plein Air / Studio | 9x12”
Started en plein air in Eldorado State Park, Colorado. Completed in the studio.
Available - view listing
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I started this painting in a first time meet up with fellow artists I met in the field. I’ve painted in RMNP a few times now, and I have always met other artists there. It’s really wild that it continues to be a tradition and source of many new friendships and artistic alliances. We exchanged contacts and said a hike and paint club sounded fun, so this was our first group outing in Eldorado Canyon State Park, Colorado. One of the artists was a local and played a great guide. We climbed to a private peak and painted a view of one of the landmarks nicknamed ‘the saddle’
The wind up there was insane but we laughed and held it together.
Between chit chat and wind this painting started off entirely casual. I was really ok with that and called this one ‘a first pancake’. We circled down to the river and I believe we all did better second paintings down there once we were warmed up.
(I’ll include photos below of where this left off as a plein air piece.)
Often times I will take a rough plein air start into the studio and just play around with it. It is a fun opportunity to push color or be experimental, especially when I’ve already mentally written off a piece. I’ve come to recognize that some works need more time than a single plein air session will allow and I’ve learned a lot through the combining of both practices in a single painting. I’m happy to have pushed this one in so many ways and call it finished.
